


We Are The Freaks

by TenyaIidiam



Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Abused Anxiety | Virgil Sanders, Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Anxiety | Virgil Sanders Has Panic Attacks, Blood and Violence, Bullying, Claustrophobia, Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders is Extra, Deceit Sanders Has a Different Name, Everyone Is Gay, Fluff and Angst, Gay Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders, Gay Logic | Logan Sanders, Hurt Anxiety | Virgil Sanders, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, King Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders, Logic | Logan Sanders Has Terrible Parents, Manipulative Deceit Sanders, Morality | Patton Sanders is a Good Friend, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Past Abuse, Past Violence, Protective Morality | Patton Sanders, Remy Sanders has a torturous past, Self-Esteem Issues, Self-Harm, Self-Hatred, Swearing
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-10
Updated: 2019-07-20
Packaged: 2020-06-26 06:49:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 14
Words: 21,542
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19762807
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TenyaIidiam/pseuds/TenyaIidiam
Summary: Virgil is an average kid in highschool. Sort of. He is constantly bullied because of his weak, frail, and "emo" appearance and his quiet demeanor. His home is no escape as his mother is gone and his father often returns home drunk. One day at school, when his bullies take it a step too far, an anonymous teen comes to save the day. The anonymous teen introduces themself as Roman. Roman tells Virgil that he can take said teen away from this life and into a better one. Away from his abuse and bullies.Virgil is taken to this fantastical world where his life does indeed take a turn for the better. But as soon as the Damian comes as the next 'saved child', his life becomes insane twists and turns.,[DISCONTINUED]





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> TW: Suggested Alcohol abuse, Bullying (physical and verbal), Self depreciating, Physical and Verbal Abuse, small undescriptive panic attack, vomiting.

Virgil sat at his desk, waiting for the bell to ring. As soon as the bell rang, he would bolt out of there before anyone else. He had decided to bring everything that he'd need at home with him to his last class today, so that he wouldn't have to stop at his locker for anything and have a chance to be caught off guard by his bullies. 

He didn't really care about that "the bell doesn't dismiss you, I dismiss you" bullshit the teachers spout. 

Like he promised himself, Virgil jumped out of his seat as soon as he heard the bell go off and he ran down the halls as fast as he could.

Virgil was almost to the front doors. He had a small bit of hope. Just a little bit. But that little hope he had went away when he saw who was smoking by the entrance. 3 people he knew all too well. Sam Garden, Logan Strawsburg, and Penny Kin. Just before Virgil was able to turn around to find a different exit, the 3 saw him and smiled together. 

After dropping their cigarettes and putting them out their shoes, they strutted over to Virgil.

"Hellllllooooooo~ pumpkin!" Penny sing songed. She called everyone pumpkin for unknown reasons.

"Yo Virgie, you wanna play a game?" Sam asked.

"No, not really. I don't like playing games with ugly ass hoes." Virgil wasn't lying about the ugly part. Sam looked like a pig, Penny looked like she was raised in the forest for half her life and, well, even Virgil could admit that Logan looked half decent, unlike his little comrades.

"Emo nightmare." Penny sneered at Virgil's insult. Penny opened her mouth to say more but before she could do that, Virgil slipped through them and ran for the door. Before he could get a good momentum going with his heavy backpack lugging behind him, he felt someone grab the backpack by the handle and pull him back. The force pulling him back combined with the weight of the backpack against his frail body resulted in Virgil lying on his back, looking up at Logan in freight.

Logan smiled smugly at Virgil. He crouched down and grabbed Virgil by the hair, tugging his head up. Virgil gasped in pain and instinctively grabbed Logan's wrist. He dug his long, jagged nails into his wrist until Logan finally let go in a yelp of pain.

"Fucking brat-" but before Logan could finish his thoughts, Virgil was out the door and running towards home.

* * *

* * *

Virgil got home in record timing. Though home wasn't his favorite place to be, it would be good for a while before his dad got home a few hours later, doing who the hell knows what before that. So he took that chance to panic. 

Virgil fell to the floor, still out of breath. Tears he had held in now fell freely and his already labored breath started coming in short gasps. He fell into a short panic attack before it finally lessened into a panting Virgil. Tear streaks stained his face but no more tears fell as he got off the ground and to the sink to get some water for his parched throat.

 _What did I do wrong?_ Was all Virgil could think while he chugged the water and threw the plastic cup into the garbage. He jogged up the stairs and went into his room, deciding he wasn't hungry enough to eat anything at the moment. Virgil got started on his homework, of which was all easy enough, and lied down in his small, stiff bed. He put on his headphones, plugged them into his phone and closed his eyes, hoping for a rest before the worst time of night.

* * *

* * *

Virgil hadn't gotten a minute of sleep before he heard the door downstairs slam closed and the sound of an empty glass bottle thrown across the room. Virgil flinched at the sudden crack of glass against wood and waited for the inevitable.

"VIRGIL, GET YOUR ASS DOWN HERE NOW." he heard. Virgil quickly got up and out of bed, flinging his headphones off and ran downstairs, knowing better than to keep his dad waiting.

"Welcome home, sir." Virgil said when he saw his father glaring at him from across the room, holding a sheet of paper. The only thing now separating Virgil from the broken bottle in his father's hand was the kitchen table. He winced at the thought of what could possibly be wrong this time. 

"What is this shit?" His father asked, crumbling up the paper and throwing it at his son. Virgil picked it up and quickly uncrumbled it, staring it up and down before finally understanding why he was angrier than usual. It was the bill for the house that Virgil had yet to pay.

"S- sorry, father, I haven't gotten the money to pay for it yet. I'm sure I will have enough by the next payche-" he was cut off by another empty bottle shattering right behind his head.

Virgil shuddered, chancing a glance up at his father, he was greeted with a fiery rage and another bottle ready to be thrown. Seriously, how many of those does he have?! The only reason he hasn't been hit yet is because his father is drunk. His aim will be off, no doubt but that doesn't take away the chance of him being hit in the head.

"THAT ISN'T SOON ENOUGH! WE'LL BE LIVING ON THE STREETS IF YOU DON'T PAY THE DAMN BILLS!" 

Virgil knew he had been paying the bills ever since he was able to get a job. He knew it was the average. He knew his father would never chip in. And he knew he should never ever mention these. He didn't mean to. But at the moment, he had felt something he had never originally even dared to feel. It was just so.... **aggravating.**

In a blind rage, Virgil glared right back at his father. And did something so stupid. So, so fucking stupid. But it felt so so **nice.**

"PAY YOUR OWN FUCKING BILLS FOR ONCE. YOU HAVE THE MONEY, YOU HAVE THE TIME. JUST LEAVE ME OUT OF IT. NOT A SINGLE 16 YEAR OLD IN MY SCHOOL HAS TO PAY THE DAMN BILLS SO I DON'T SEE WHY I SHOULD HAVE TO. GO TO HELL." His father looked at him in surprise, relaxing his body slightly. This lasted a few seconds before the rage had found its way back to his eyes and he threw the bottle. Before Virgil could react, he felt a piercing pain go through his shoulder.

He yelped in pain, tears pricking his eyes. He stumbled back slightly and gripped his shoulder, feeling warm liquid flooding onto his hand and down his arm.

"You're good for nothing else. You mine as well make use of your sad and pathetic life." He whispered. It sent a shiver up Virgil's spine and he stepped back with a whimper. 

"S- sorry, s- sir. That was st- stupid of m- me. I- I don't k- know wh- what's wrong with me." Before Virgil could continue, his father stomped around the kitchen table quickly and punched him in the throat. Virgil wheezed and started gasping for air as his knees gave below him. His body lurched forward and he vomited the little food he had eaten that day. 

"Disgusting emo. What did I say about stuttering? Children do that. Now clean that up and go to bed before I do anything else. I've had a long day so consider yourself lucky." Virgil still couldn't speak so he merely nodded his head weakly and made a sound of agreement. His dad stormed upstairs. When Virgil hear him slam his door shut, only then did he get up off the ground. Tears streamed down his face.

His dad was right, he should consider himself lucky. After his little outburst, he expected himself to at least be left half conscious and unable to move. Before Virgil cleaned up his mess, he went into the bathroom to find his first aid kit. He got out some of his stitching supplies and bandages. He quickly stitched and wrapped up his wound and got to cleaning the vomit.

_Nothing was getting better anytime soon._


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things aren't as normal anymore.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: Claustrophobia, physical and verbal bullying, blood, somewhat descriptive panic attack though never saying it is one, self depreciation.

Virgil packed up his stuff for school early in the morning and left as fast as he could. Though, his father would probably still be in bed until noon with a hangover like usual, he didn't want to take any chances... Like usual. He walked the 15 minutes to school and got there and hour early, before anyone else. Like usual. He got to class and waited at his desk. Like usual. 45 minutes later, students started flooding into the room. Everything was normal. Next class he would be hit with constant spitballs of hate. Next class would be quiet again. The rest of the day would be running away from life's bitches.

Virgil walked to his locker before his 5th class, history. The textbook was way too big to fit in his backpack so it was the only class he had to go to his locker for. When he got to his locker, he stopped and looked around him. Satisfied to see no one threatening around, he focused back on his locker and opened it quickly. He grabbed his history book. 

Virgil huffed a sigh of relief. Before he got to close it, however, he felt a sudden pressure on his back. His eyes widened as he fell into his locker, face first. Curse his small body, he fit perfectly with the exception of his legs hanging out. 

He squeaked as whoever had pushed him, roughly turned him around and shoved his feet against his chest. Before Virgil could react to this, the locker slammed shut. Virgil noticed a warm liquid running down his face. His nose must've hit the locker. And his shoulder had a pounding pain that wouldn't go away. Damn, he better not have ripped the stitches.

He couldn't hear anything but his own heartbeat. He could feel nothing but the walls of the locker. Getting even **smaller.** How the hell was that possible?! No no no no, not smaller, anything but closer. He let a whimper escape his lips and he kicked at the door with the little leg space he had. It didn't budge, of course. The only thing it did was make the people behind the locker door laugh maniacally.

"L- let me out! I'll do anything, please?" Someone howled with laughter. 

"Are you going to cry? It's not too bad! Man through it, emo nightmare!" That voice. He knew that voice. But he couldn't really focus all too much. His breathing grew shallower and he started to hyperventilate. He palms grew sweaty and and tears pricked his eyes.

"L- let m- m- me o- out!" He gasped. His voice shook much more than he had hoped it would and his entire body trembled.

"Oh no! I think I'll have to go get the tissues! This is so sad!" He heard another voice say. They were laughing for a long time. And Virgil's breathing wasn't improving. Then their laughing abruptly stopped. He didn't really pay attention to anything after this. He was focusing on curling more into himself.

"FUCK OFF!" that's all he heard. This scared Virgil slightly. The voice didn't sound friendly and he didn't need someone else on his back. A sob escaped Virgil's lips. A few seconds later, he heard the lock of Virgil's locker jiggle a little. He felt tears falling freely now as the door opened. Virgil jumped out of the locker. He gasped in air, greedily and lay, shaking on the floor. He expected someone to kick him or punch him so he curled in on himself, bringing his knees up to his chest and wrapping them in his arms.

"Hey, it-" before the anonymous voice could continue, Virgil started whimpering.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'll do anything, please dont hurt me. Don't put me back in there. Anything but there. Please, please, plea-"

"HEY." the voice spoke over him and Virgil flinched violently. The voice started speaking slower and quieter.

"Hey, it's okay. I won't hurt you. I promise on my life." It was quiet until Virgil finally peaked out from where his head was buried in his arms. He saw a new teen. He was kneeled in front of Virgil, hand hovering over his shoulder, worriedly. "Can you hear me?"

Virgil eyed the stranger worriedly behind his cloudy eyes before nodding. The stranger smiled. The man looked weird to Virgil. He was a teenager and yet he dressed like a prince. A white suit with golden tassels and a red sash going down his chest.

"My name is Roman Knight. Can you tell me your name?" He asked sweetly.

"V- Virgil." 

"Alright Virgil. Can I touch you?"

Virgil shook his head quickly. He didn't want anyone to ever touch him. This was no exception.

"We have to get your shoulder bandaged and your nose cleaned up." He muttered. "Can you stand?"

Virgil nodded. He reluctantly released his ball on the floor and quickly pushed himself up. He swayed heavily and Roman grabbed Virgil's good shoulder to keep him steady. He flinched at the contact but accepted the support.

"I- I'm sorry you h- have to deal with me. You can leave, you know."

"Now, why would I do that?" 

"Because I'm not worth the effort." Virgil muttered, looking at the ground. Roman squeezed his shoulder lightly with reassurance.

"Trust me, you are more than worth the effort. You and I are alike."

"Hah, tell me when you see it, Princey." Roman smiled at the nickname. 

"That's what makes us alike." Virgil looked at him, confused.

"What does?"

"We are different, that's what makes us alike."

"I'm afraid I don't follow."

"I'll explain it later. I need to help you. But I need your consent. Do you trust me?"

"What?"

"Do you trust me?" He asked again, dramatically holding his hand out in front of Virgil. 

"... You did not."

"I did."

"Aladdin?" Virgil asked.

"Aladdin." Roman agreed. Virgil rolled his eyes and eyed the offered hand. He cautiously took his hand and he was immediately pulled over to a wall. They were running straight to the wall. And Roman didn't seem to have any intention of stopping. Virgil's anxiety sky rocketed and he squeaked, squeezing his eyes shut tightly before he felt a lurching feeling. Then silence.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> WOOP WOOP ya'll probably thought I made Logan the bully? Bish would i ever? Maybe, idk myself. But nah. Logan strawsburg isn't Logan Sanders, calm down.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: Panic Attack.

He felt ground beneath him. **Oh thank God. Solid ground. Sweet sweet solid earth. Earth? What the fuck. That's dirt. Where the hell-** Virgil's thoughts were interrupted by the sudden boom of cheers around him. His anxiety heightened even more than it already was and he curled in on himself. He ignores the sharp pain of his shoulder rubbing against the dirt.

The only explanation for this was he was outside being beaten by Logan and his cronies were cheering him on. 

But no, he was with Roman. He remembered now. 

"I'M BACK EVERYBODY!" He heard the prince announce. Another loud _overwhelming_ cheer at this. Virgil shook and he tried to stifle a whimper, unsuccessfully doing so.

If Roman heard, he gave no indication. He continues his announcement dramatically. 

"I HAVE BROUGHT A POSSIBLE NEW FAMILY MEMBER!"

"Yay!" Virgil heard a happy squeal from the crowd. Many people giggled at this but let Roman go on.

"Would you like to introduce yourself Vir- Virgil? Love, what's wrong?" Roman had finally noticed Virgil still curled up on the ground, now trembling. Virgil didn't answer. Instead, he clamped his hands over his ears and curled deeper into himself. 

"What's wrong, King Roman?" someone from the crowd asked formally. Shuffling footsteps could be heard in the deafening silence of the anticipating crowd. Two pairs of feet. One more frantic and the other a steady tread. 

"I told you to just call me Roman. And I have no idea. Virgil, love, can you look at me? Please?" Virgil peaked out from his hands. There was a squeak from the newcomer of which made Virgil flinch slightly and looking up alarmingly at the source of the noise.

The source of the noise looked to be a bubbly boy with a grey cardigan wrapped around his shoulders and big round glasses. "Oh my god, he's a little baby kitten..." The boy muttered excitedly behind his hands.

"Correction. He appears to be a human boy, Patton. Even for you, this should be blatantly obvious." Virgil turned his head towards the newer voice. He, too, had glasses but his were more square. He also wore a professional looking suit with a blue tie. He seemed very controlled.

"HELLO! My name is Patton!" The one with the grey cardigan announced.

"And I, Logan. I am pleased to make your acquaintance." Virgil shivered violently at the name. Patton noticed right away.

"OH KIDDO! ARE YOU COLD!? OH, YOU'RE INJURED TOO!" Patton walked closer to Virgil to get a better look but Virgil hissed at him. Patton refrained from squealing at how cute this was and stepped back, inspecting from a more respectable distance.

"When I found him, he was being shoved in a locker by some bullies. I'm fairly sure he's very claustrophobic. He started panicking horribly in the locker and when he just got out of it. I'm fairly sure the nose is from getting pushed into the locker but the shoulder is from aggravating a newer wound." Roman analyzed, much to Logan's surprise.

"Good analyzing, King Roman," Logan said, ignoring Roman's earlier request to drop 'King'. "But please just leave the analyzing to me, thank you." Roman rolled his eyes half heartedly and smiled at Logan. 

"Alright, pocket watch, I'll keep that in mind."

"W- where are w- we, R- Roman." Virgil hardly whispered. Virgil was staring out at the sea of people surrounding them. His trembling was returning.

"Hey, hey, it's okay." Roman knelt next to him.

"These people are like us. They were hurt. Tainted, scarred, bruised, broken. Like us. They won't hurt you. I promise."

Virgil stared cautiously at the people but relaxed a small bit. "Sorry."

"What are you apologizing for?" Patton asked. 

Virgil didn't answer. Instead, he pushed himself up so he was sitting. He brought his knees up to his chest and hugged them, inspecting his surroundings.

"Where are we?" he asked again.

Roman gave Virgil a bright smile and explained. "We are in my world! Here, the people like you and me live in harmony. It's an escape from their old, horrible life. I bring hurt people here. Terrified and lost. I save them and bring them here to a world of prosperity and happiness. Here, they can strive to be better without the weight of the world holding them back. Virgil. We are a family. And I ask you join us. 

"I will not force you to join us, the option is yours, but that will mean you go back to the real world. No more memories of this place. What do you say? Stay here in a home where you will be cherished and loved? Or go back to a place where you are misunderstood and scoffed upon?"

Virgil huffed. "You're so dramatic." His face fell as he spoke. "This is real? I'm not dreaming this, I can have this?" 

Roman smiled again and nodded. The answer to Roman's nod wasn't what they were expecting. There was a sob.

Virgil buried his head in his knees. There were tremors through his body everytime he let out a silent sob into his knees and his entire body was shaking. 

"OH NO, ROMAN WHAT DID YOU DO!" Patton squealed, rushing over to Virgil. Roman looked confused and had no idea what to do.

"I- I DON'T KNOW."

"YOU BROKE HIIIIIIIIMMMMM."

"Calm down, Patton. I'm sure he's just confused and scared. Weren't we all? Virgil, that's his name right?" Logan got a nod from Roman and he continued. "Virgil, can you hear me? Tap your index finger twice if you can."

He tapped twice. Logan gave a small smile before continuing.

"Alright, that's good. Can you look at me?" Virgil lifted his head a small bit. His eyes were red and bloodshot. "Good job. Can I touch you?" Virgil shook his head. "Understandable. Mimic my breathing." Logan exaggerated breathing in 4 seconds, holding 7 and out for 8. He put up fingers to count.

A few breathing exercises later, Virgil's head was no longer buried in his knees and he had stopped crying. His body didn't shake so violently and he was staring Logan directly in the eye for comfort.

Roman looked at Logan, quizzically. "I thought Patton was the one good with emotions?"

"A little logic and control does a great deal psychologically. You two were panicking. That was not helping the situation."

"Ah, I'm so sorry, Virgil!" Patton squeaked but he wasn't yelling anymore.

"Yes, thy deepest regrets become of me. I did not mean to freighten thee."

"I- it's okay, Princey. My anxiety kinda throws me around a bit, emotionally."

"Though anxiety is a very common thing around here, I don't think we've had very many people go into a full blown panic attack. I'm glad I researched ahead." Logan stated, proudly pushing his glasses farther up the bridge if this nose.

"Can you stand?" Patton offered a hand to Virgil. He reluctantly took the hand and as soon as he was off the ground, he was swaying.

"I'm sorry, panic attacks take a lot out of me. I've had 2 today." Patton had Virgil lean on him. Virgil didn't like the amount of contact he was having today. But it was nice to have more positive touches.

"Now-" before Roman could continue, Virgil gave a half hearted smirk towards him.

"I guess you'll just have to get used to it when your around me." Roman's eyes widened and he gave him a huge grin. Bigger than should've been possible.

"YOU'LL STAY?!" Virgil flinched at the sudden raise of his voice but huffed amusedly nonetheless. 

"Yeah, anywhere is better than **there.** " Roman turned to the crowd quickly. 

He waved dramatically at Virgil. "WE HAVE A NEW FAMILY MEMBER. MEET, VIRGIL!"


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The ship grows along with self depreciation.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: Blood and injury, self depreciation, talk about child abuse/physical abuse, therapist mention, small start of a panic attack (doesn't escalate)

When the crowd finally departed, Roman led the other three, Virgil, Logan and Patton, to the palace. The 'kingdom' as Roman liked to call it, was huge. You could see a large forest in the east, a lake to the west, the palace was in the north and the south had many many houses both big and small. Roman told Virgil about the world, like when people thought about their dream house, it appeared. Anything they wanted, they could easily just conjure. There were boundaries about what they could conjure. They couldn't conjure anything obviously dangerous, for instance, guns or steak knives. If they wanted to, they would have to go through a bunch of paperwork and confirm what they were going to do with it. Then and only then were they allowed to have the dangerous kind of stuff. The only person who was physically able to conjure the stuff was King Roman himself, so they would have to go through everything a few hours prior to asking for it. It's a hassle but Roman would never want to put his citizens at risk, even if there was to be only and accidental injury.

Before Virgil was to get a house, like all newcomers, he got to stay in the palace for a week with the other 3. Hence came the topic _of_ the other 3. 

Roman was basically the king. He didn't like referring himself as the king but more prince or leader, though, Logan did insist on calling him 'King Roman'. Roman kept everything in line, he brought back new people every few weeks and he made sure to give everyone a quick drop by to see how they were doing every once in a while. To Roman, everyone here were like his family and he needed to take care of them.

Logan was in charge of the number of people living in the kingdom at the time, scheduling kingdom events and holidays, keeping track of birthdays, and much much more. He took care of the numbers, statistics and paperwork. 

Patton executed everything. He was the one who sent small gifts to those of a birthday, held the events, setting up everything with the help of some of the seniors and he usually kept everything very lively and stuff.

Roman explained their roles along with the rules of conjuring. You conjure your own food, you can decide whether you want to cook it or conjure it already cooked, you can conjure decorations for your house and other stuff like that. Conjuring was basically their entire world. Everyone had the ability to conjure. Roman just had a few more rights than the rest, which was understandable.

Roman led the others into the giant doors leading into the palace. Before they did anything, Patton went to go get medical supplies from one of the bathrooms. Soon enough, he came back with a box. He handed it to Logan and Logan had him sit at the kitchen table and instructed to stay still. Logan questioned Virgil when he found small glass shards still in his shoulder but Virgil didn't answer so Logan just proceeded to care for it. As Virgil had figured, the stitching had ripped and he needed even more stitched than before. It was painful but after a while, it was only a throbbing pain. When they had tended to his shoulder and cleaned up his bloody nose, Roman declared they had a tour.

Roman began giving Virgil the tour, happily gliding along the floors, showing him every room. The place had so many rooms. So many that Virgil decided to start panicking slightly from the thought of being lost in here. Like seriously. What if he got lost forever and ever and **e** **ver and no one ever found him and he just rotted in the bath _room alone oh my god._**

"Virgil? Hey, kiddo, you with me?" Virgil blinked and saw Patton snapping his fingers in front of his face. He blushed.

"Sorry, Patton, just zoned out for a second." Patton still looked worried but rubbed it off.

"Mkay, well, we are done with the tour. We were just going to show you to your room." Patton gestured off into the long corridor. Virgil nodded 

"Patton, could you go get dinner started? Logan, you can go with him if you want. I'll show Virgil to his room." Logan nodded a farewell to Roman and Patton put a cheery thumbs up before running off to do exactly what he was asked.

Roman waved a hand to indicate for Virgil to follow him and they walked down the corridors in an awkward silence. Roman stopped in front of a large door and opened it, beckoning with a bow and a wave of his hand for Virgil to enter the room first. Said teen snorted at this but entered.

The room was huge, of course, but was hardly anything to gape over. A bed sat on the left wall and a window looking out at the kingdom was on the other side of the room. To the right of the bed was a large desk with writing utensils and plain printer and lined paper. On the right side of the room there was his own bathroom but other than this, the room was empty. 

"It is a bit empty but you can decorate it yourself to fit your needs or wants for this week. To conjure material, all you have to do is think about the object you want, appearance and all, and say the name of the item. You don't have to say it loudly, just say it. Here, try and conjure a crown for instance." 

"Uh, alright." Virgil thought about what a crown looked like. He then said "crown" like he was told. A purple, black and gold embroidered crown conjured in front of him and it toppled to the ground. Roman picked it up and inspected it, pleased with the outcome. 

"Great job. It looks like you know what to do. Do you wanna hang in here and decorate or do you want to come with me downstairs, as we get ready for dinner?" 

"I'll stay here, thanks... For everything. Really." Virgil looked down at the ground, a light blush spreading over his face. 

"No need to thank me. It's just what I do." Roman said, proudly.

"Then thank you for doing it." Roman looked at him with a raised eyebrow but gave him a happy smile, his gaze softening.

"Dinner is at 6. Do you need me to come get you when it's time or can you get to the dining hall on your own?" 

"I might need a little help. Sorry for the trouble."

"It's no trouble at all. It'd be my honor, dark prince." he bowed dramatically and Virgil blushed furiously at the nickname.

"S- see you then." 

"Good day!" and with that, Roman left the room, closing the door slowly behind him. Virgil stood there, listening to the shuffling feet disappear.

When he couldn't hear Roman anymore, Virgil turned to the empty room and smirked to himself. This place could use some redecorating.

* * *

* * *

Virgil stared at his work, proud. He stood by the door, looking around, seeing if there was anything else he could do to the room when he heard a knock come from behind him. He turned around and opened the door. He found Roman, smiling down at him.

"Greetings my dark prince!"

"Are you just going to stick to that nickname now?" 

"Would you prefer me call you something else?"

"Very much so."

Roman invited himself into the room and Virgil stepped aside, allowing him to, though, hesitantly. He admitted, he was a little self conscious. He's never gotten to personalize something and so he kinda went all out.

The entire room was covered in black and purple. Purple curtains with spiders, Disney posters like The Nightmare Before Christmas and Black Cauldron, his bed had turned into purple and black sheets and his room was dimly lit. He also had many many more random stuff that were purple and black but what caught Roman's eye was the grand piano in the corner of his room. Virgil blushed slightly and Roman smirked at him. "Alright, hot topic. Do you play?" 

"Better than the other nickname I guess." he muttered and shrugged to Roman's question. Roman's eyes widened and they seemed to sparkle. 

"Can you play something for me?!" But immediately Virgil shook his head violently. 

"N- no, I'd rather not." Roman raised an eyebrow but didn't push it. 

"Well, dinner is done. Shall we go?" Roman offered Virgil's hand like he had done earlier. He shifted nervously and Roman caught this, much to his amusement. 

"Don't worry, we're only walking. I can't teleport around here." he laughed. Virgil sighed but smiled and took Roman's hand, or more like hovered over it. Has he mentioned how much he hates physical contact?

Roman accepted it and led him to the dining hall where Logan and Patton were having a heated argument about which was better, cats or dogs. Though Patton loved both so much, he had to go with dogs because of how playful and fun they were. He also mentioned that he was allergic to cats so there's an obvious reason to go for dogs. Logan insisted that cats were much better. They were more calm and collected and rather calming. 

"Why am I even having this conversation. It is quite a useless topic to invest my time into."

"It is a serious matter, Logan!" Patton insisted. 

"Hardly." Patton whipped his head up when he heard Roman chuckle at their small dispute. Logan merely pursed his lips and leaned back in his chair, investing his attention to a book he had put down on the table. 

"Hello, Virgil! Did you decorate your room?" Patton asked, excitedly, finishing setting up the dining utensils. 

"I did." Virgil said with a nod.

"Wonderful! Do you mind if I see it later?" 

"Sure."'

"Yay!" Patton seemed to find happiness in the smallest things and it made Virgil smile, despite himself. 

"Good evening, Virgil. Does your shoulder feel any better from earlier?" Logan finally asked, not looking up from his book.

"Uh, y- yeah. Thanks a lot for patching me up earlier."

"Of course." Logan put down his book and patted the table. "If you don't mind, could you two please sit. I'd like to discuss matters." Virgil looked at Logan, confused, but went to sit next to Patton. Roman sat next to Virgil, making Logan the only person on one side of the table. 

"What would you like to talk about, Logan?" Patton asked, politely.

"On the topic of your shoulder, Virgil." Virgil winced. "Roman told me that your shoulder was not, in fact, an injury from your bullies. Could you please tell us _where_ it did come from? I did mention earlier that I found glass shards, meaning it was unattended to by a professional. You did not seek medical help when you were injured. I'm going to guess no one else knew about your shoulder then?" Virgil nodded slowly, knowing where this was going.

"Kiddo, can you tell us what happened?" Patton turned to him, worry obvious in his eyes. 

"M- my father came home. A little... a little drunk last night... Is all..." Patton inhaled silently through his nose and Roman patted him on the back encouragingly. Logan nodded, unfazed. 

"Virgil, the reason you are here is because your life back in your world was cruel. We do not expect everything to be fine as soon as you come here, so we do offer therapists and emotional support to those who have a difficult time when first arriving. If you wish to talk about anything with us, do not hesitate to ask. We could also do something in your world about it. We could easily gather enough evidence and charge him on account of child abuse."

"N- no! That's not necessary, really!"

"Are you sure, kiddo?" Patton asked.

"Perfectly sure, please don't, he didn't do anything... wrong... sort of... I don't know." Virgil trailed off as he realized what he was saying was complete ludicrous. _How was anything he did okay? Not **wrong**_ _in the slightest? Virgil's anxiety and self hatred had an answer for that._

"In what way do you think what he did to you wasn't _wrong?"_ Roman asked, astonished.

"W- well, I was b- bound to be p- punished at some point, r- right? I didn't pay the house bill in time a- and h- h- he was mad. I-" Patton jumped out of his seat and immediately engulfed the other in a hug. _Wrong choice._

 _Trapped, trapped, trappedtrappedtrappedtrapped._ Was all Virgil could think as he squirmed and tried to break free out of the hug. His breathing started to speed up as well. Patton picked up on his behavior quickly and backed up, hands up in surrender.

"Sorry, sorry, Kiddo! I didn't mean to scare you!" Virgil gave an uneven sigh and turned to Patton with glistening eyes.

"It w- wasn't your fault."

"Virgil," everyone's attention was back to Logan. "What he did was not right. You didn't deserve it in the slightest. You shouldn't blame yourself for his actions. They were unwarranted. You have no fault in this." Logan said bluntly. Roman nodded his agreement.

"You should've fought back!" Roman announced, angrily, thinking about how horrible that person must've been. "He could've used a bit of his own medicine. Virgil immediately shook his head.

"You don't understand, Roman, I just..." his voice trailed off again.

"You felt trapped. You felt there was nothing you could do for yourself. Eventually you just started to expect and accept the inevitable, hence began the routine in your life. Sooner or later you started to feel like this was your purpose and that this was all you deserved. Am I right?" Roman and Patton looked at Logan sympathetically and Virgil looked on in confusion and surprise.

"Y- yeah. That. How did you-"

Logan coughed into his fist, casually. "I've just had... experience with this area. I guess you could say." Virgil softened up a bit. There was an uncomfortable silence, allowing Virgil's mind to wander.

**_Good job, you've made them uncomfortable._ **

**_All you've been doing is bothering them since they've helped you._ **

**_Why don't you just ruin their dinner too?_ **

**_Maybe they'll realize your a lost cause and not worth helping. Maybe_ _they_ _'ll_ _send you back._ **

_No, they wouldn't do that... would they?_

_**You don't know that. You've only known them for a few hours. And they've only known you for a few hours. So once they learn more about how fucked up you are. How scarred you really are. How you scarred yourself-**  
_

_I've stopped doing that._

**_It's only been a few weeks. What will stop you from doing it more?_ **

"Well, I think we should start on dinner!" Patton's chipper voice interrupted Virgil's louder thoughts.

"That sounds great, Patton." Roman said with a smile. 

_**I guess you get to see how you can ruin food for someone too.** _


	5. A/N

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> SORTA IMPORTANT. If you are actually serious about reading this, lmao, I'd recommend reading this. I just wanted to explain what this new world was that Roman has created and what the purpose is. It would take up too much of a chapter and it honestly would be way too boring to read or even write in my case.

Roman created a world 3 years prior to the setting of the story. He had originally just created it for himself, an escape from the cruel reality of life. Soon after he had created it, though, he realized how amazing a new world free of hate would be for so many people. So he decided to use his magical ability to locate and bring back suffering people and take them in in this new world. The purpose of this world is to help those who don't fit in with society. We Are The Freaks is the title of this story because the people he saves are seen as 'Freaks' in the other world. Roman likes to take pride in the fact that they are different. The first people he take to this world are Patton and Logan who quickly become close friends. Together, they form a society.

** The rules of this world. **

1\. The creator of the world will have the most freedom, whether conjuring, authority or rules.

2\. Everyone can conjure within the limits the leader gives them. It is literally impossible for them to conjure anything outside of those limits.

3\. People can have their dream house just by thinking about what that may be

4\. Everyone treats each other with respect.

5\. Everyone is appreciated and acknowledged.

6\. Everyone has a role in society.

7\. There are different rankings. The seniors, working class, citizens, Leader, 2nd in command

Seniors are the oldest members of citizens.

Working class is the class of which have a higher role in society, such as being a therapist or suppliers

Citizens are just people who want to live a quiet life

Leader is the creator of the world, in this case, it would be Roman

And finally 2nd in command is Logan and Patton, currently. Might change later in the story. Second in command is basically the people who have the leader's trust with crucial things such as planning important events and executing them.

8\. Everyone is allowed to leave whenever they wish and go back to the real world. The drawback of that is they have no memories of the world. They only remember the prosperity they felt during that time and certain lessons you've learned during the time. No one has left through the many years though.

I PROMISE THE STORY WILL PICK UP, I'm just not sure when I want it to start picking up. I know what the main idea of this story will be, the climax and who the main antagonist is but for now just bare with me.


	6. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They eat dinner and admire Virgil's skills *eyebrow waggles*

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I better not get writer's block from writing this much in one day.
> 
> TW: Suggested Self-Harm, blades, blood, and looootsss of self depreciation. I'm sorry. This isn't even the main plot point. It comes later in the story. It's not the main plot point but yet it's already really angsty. Well shit.

Everyone sat in silence as they ate dinner at the table. Logan merely made small talk to Roman about the kingdom or chipper compliments on how things were going were added in by Patton. But Virgil remained quiet. He wasn't used to eating this much food and stuck to what he _was_ used to eating. A few bites of whatever was in front of him. When he was done, he scooted what was left on the place (which was a lot) over to one side of the plate to make it look like he ate more than he had. Despite this, Patton still looked at his place, concerned.

"Kiddo, you should probably eat more. You're too thin as it is." Virgil looked down at his plate in disgust. 

"I- sure, Patton." He forced down another few mouthfuls until it wasn't possible eat anything else. Patton seemed pleased enough. 

When everyone had finished eating (Roman managed to down 3 plates full of food) they all disposed of their dishes in the kitchen sink. Virgil followed suit.

Patton turned to Virgil excitedly. "Can we see your room now?!" Virgil just couldn't say no to him. He forced a smile and gave a small nod. Patton ran ahead while the other 3 walked to Virgil's room. Roman was hoping he could try and convince him to play the piano again. Maybe even Patton will be able to convince him without him having to.

They walked into his room. Patton shrieked instantly, noticing the curtains in the corner. 

"WHY ARE THERE CREEPY CRAWLY DEATH DEALERS ON THE CURTAINS." Virgil looked at them for an explanation. They helpfully explained with a shrug and continued to wander around the room. 

Patton decided to escape over to the grand piano and admire it. He turned to Virgil with curiosity. "Do you play." Virgil paled. 

"I... do. But I'm not very good, you wouldn't want to hear me, I sound like I'm just slamming on the keys half the ti-"

"Nonsense! You should at least try! I'm sure you'll be great!"

"I'm sorry Patton but please don't make me. No one has ever liked my playing. I don't see why any of you would." Roman caught a glimpse of regret. Roman felt a pang of anger flash through him.

"Why do you regret having such an amazing talent! You should use your talents! Not hide them away from the world!" Virgil glanced at Logan for help but he was wandering a little more, inspecting everything carefully. He was lingering around his drawers a lot and it made Virgil really anxious... He had something in the bottom drawer that he'd rather not have them find. But at the same time, Virgil had to focus on them. Virgil turned back to Patton's and Roman's pleading eyes and sighed. 

"Fine." he grumbled and walked up to the piano. He opened the lid to the keys and dragged his fingers weightlessly over them before taking a deep breath and turning to them. "Any requests?" They both thought about it for a second before Roman jumped happily. 

"Do you know any Disney songs?" Virgil lifted an eyebrow and Roman remembered the posters in his room. "Ah, my bad. Duh." 

"What do you wanna hear, Princey?" 

"How about, I'll Make A Man Out of You?" Virgil clicked his tongue.

"Mkay." And so it began. One note. Then the next. Then he began the song with a beautiful start. To Roman, it sounded _better_ being played by Virgil. And Virgil... started _singing_ to it. His voice. Just... wow. Even singing a song like this, it sounded mesmerizing. _Enchanting. Beautiful._ It wasn't even a song that was supposed to be enchanting. It was supposed to be upbeat and for you to just get into the groove of it. But no. His was enchanting _and_ upbeat. It was perfect. Mesmerizing. God Roman's thoughts were a mess. He didn't even notice when it ended until a few seconds after it had and he kinda just slumped, upset it ever had to end. Virgil noticed how his shoulders slumped and immediately thought the worst. He started to panic.

"Oh, I know, I know, a guy who has the fricking brain of a pea thinking it was a good idea to put a _grand piano_ in their room when they can't even play. You must be so disappointed, I'm sorry I got your hopes up, I told you that I couldn't play, god damn it, I'm such an idio-" 

"VIRGIL!" Roman yelled over Virgil's ranting and he flinched back. Roman immediately softened. "It was beautiful, Virgil. You did so well. Enchanting."

Virgil shook his head. "It wasn't meant to be enchanting. It's supposed to be upbeat. Was I really that much of a try hard?"

"Wow Virgil, you're really good at twisting people's words." Virgil flinched again.

"Ah, I'm sorry, what I said was a really dick thing to say, I should've just taken the compliment. I'm such an ungrateful shit."

"Language." Patton muttered under his breath. 

"English." Virgil responded and Roman laughed. 

"N- no Virgil! It was Enchanting _and_ upbeat at the same time! it was a perfect blend! I don't even know _how_ you did it. I- I'm lost for words! Why did you ever think that this was _bad?"_

"I- I've just been told..." 

"Well you've been told wrong." Roman stated stubbornly. He would not leave this boy thinking he didn't have any talent. This boy had much talent and he wanted him to know it. "Look. You have so much _talent._ So much to be proud of! Whatever they said was complete jealousy. People are constantly trying to be better than each other. And when they find someone better than them, they freak out and do unforgivable things. They _say_ unforgivable things. Please tell me you won't talk bad about yourself anymore? Please?" Roman stared him in the eye and Virgil looked away uncomfortably. 

"O- okay." he said. He didn't really believe he could stand by his word but he honestly would try. He'd love to stop hating every inch of his existence. Maybe he could finally get some help with that.

**_So pathetic. Relying on others to stop hating yourself? That's so pitiful and greedy. You're basically just using them now._ **

_No they offered to help._

**_Not at all. He told you to do it. Not that he'd help you. Why would he ever invest so much time on an ignorant, untalented, helpless, hopeless, pathetic, pitiful, greed-_ **

"I think we should go." Logan said to them, pushing his glasses up his nose. "Give Virgil some privacy. We've invaded enough." 

"Ah! Right!" Patton was flustered. He kept glancing at Virgil and the piano in awe. "Sorry, Kiddo. I was... speechless... that was so freaking amazing! I would love to hear more tomorrow!" Virgil nodded. Patton waved at him as he walked out. "Have a good night. Come find us if you need anything."

"Actually. Virgil, do you have a phone on you? If not you can conjure one." Roman said. Virgil conjured a purple phone. "Wow you really like your purple and black." Virgil blushed but typed in his info into the phone to get it set up. When he was done he looked to Roman. Roman took his phone. "I'll give you my contact info. Just call me if you need anything." He typed in something into his phone, gave it to Virgil, and with that, he, Patton and Logan left. Was it just him or did Logan look... uncomfortable?

**_Oh boy, Virgil. What did you do now? What could've possibly upset the robot? I stand_ _correc_ ** _**ted**._ **_You do have a real talent for something. Letting others down. You do a pretty damn good job at it._ **

Virgil shivered but ignored the incessant voice in his head. 

_He isn't a robot._

Okay, he didn't quite ignore it.

After a few more minutes of just sitting and staring at the grand piano, he remembered that Logan had been snooping around the drawers and his attention was drawn away from him for at least 5 minutes straight. Virgil jumped up, alarmed and went straight to his bottom drawer. He moved aside some sweat pants he had conjured and sighed when he saw the glisten of metal at the bottom. _It's still there._

* * *

* * *

Logan gestured for them to follow him and they, confused, followed. Patton and Roman took a seat on a couch and Logan in a recliner. Logan leaned forward to address them, his eyebrows arched in worry. "Can you guys do Virgil a favor?"

"Anything." Patton said at once and Roman nodded, totally invested in listening to whatever Logan had to say. 

"Keep an eye on him but do not go too far into his personal life. His anxiety does not help the fact that he was bullied to a horrible extent and his childhood was full of abuse and hate. I-" Logan looked down and back up at them. Emotion flickered across his eyes. "He had blades and an assortment of pills in his medicine cabinet." Patton immediately gasped, eyes wide with fear for his new family. "You took them out, right?" 

"I took the blades but left the pills." Logan carefully put his hand into his pocket and took out a few blades. Some had a rusty red and some shone, brand new.

"Oh, my poor dark strange son." Patton muttered.

"Son?" Logan asked, curiously.

"He's my son." Patton insisted. Logan just sighed, pinched the bridge of his nose and muttered something under his breath. 

"Just keep an eye on him. We've had this case once or twice before. Self harm and depression are most likely due to his traumatic experiences. Give him the support he needs, whether he wants it or not, and if you think something is off about his mood, er, more than usual, don't be afraid to ask questions, got it?" Roman and Patton both nodded quickly and determinedly. "Good. I think I will turn in for the night. I'm taking the blades and throwing them away in _my_ room. Keep him close. Keep him safe. If he is to stay here, we need him to know that he... he isn't alone anymore." Logan nodded to both of them and headed off to bed, carefully handling the blades as to not cut himself.

Patton felt a tear drip down his face but quickly wiped it away with the back of his hand. Roman pat his back. "It'll be okay, Patton. We can help him." 

"B- but I really do like him! He's so nice and _innocent._ He doesn't deserve this!" 

"And neither did anyone else here deserve the trauma they have gone through, but we helped them all, like we are going to with Virgil. How about we get to bed too. We can talk this through some other time, alright? The first day for everyone is always tough. For both the newest member and the people helping him through it. It's tiring." Roman gave him a reassuring smile, but at this point he didn't even know if he was reassuring Patton or himself. Nonetheless, Patton smiled back, gratefully and nodded his agreement. 

"yeah, I think we should go to bed. Thanks, Roman. Have a good night." Patton got up and walked off to his own room. 

Roman sat in silence for a few moments before getting up himself and heading to his own room. He arrived at his gold embroidered door and pushed it open. He walked into his usual, very royal setting with red and gold and white everywhere. Seems like everyone has their own comfort colors. Virgil seemed to like the darker colors. Patton loved bubbly and cheery colors. Roman loved rich and shiny colors and Logan liked darker colors with Virgil. But not dark like black but more like dark blue. He tells us that it is calming and helps with his thought process. 

Roman flopped down into his bread and buried his face into his pillow. 

_**Damn he is really cute.** _

_Whoa, whoa, whoa, calm down. Who is cute?_

_**Virgil.** _

_Meh, yeah I could see that._

**_I'm your own thoughts, of course you see it._ **

_Am I talking to myself in my head?_

**_That's the saddest thing I've ever been asked. And that's saying something, especially since the only person I could possibly be asked a question by is you. And you ask some pretty sad questions. Lmao._ **

_Did you just say lmao out loud?_

**_No you did._ **

_Fair enough._

Roman sighed, falling asleep after a while of being engulfed in his own thoughts. His last thought:

_...Yeah... He is kinda cute I guess._


	7. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Roman is off to save another soul.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: Suggested abuse, knife, threats
> 
> WE ARE GETTING MORE INTO THE PLOOOOOOT

The next few days were normal. Virgil mainly stayed in his room but when he was out of his room, he was either in the commons or dining room. Roman and Patton tried their best to keep an eye on him without seeming suspicious but he was _constantly_ in his room. On the 6th day of staying in the palace, Logan took Virgil down to the village to pick a spot for his house. Virgil shifted uncomfortably. He could easily live on his own. He just didn't know if he wanted to. He enjoyed their company but now he would be on his own for a long time. This made him nervous.

"Virgil? Are you alright?" Logan looked to Virgil who was still shifting uncomfortably while walking with Logan to the Village. 

"What if I can't live alone? I know how to. I just- I'm just a little nervous is all. I feel like I'm gonna mess something up. I don't know what but just _something."_ Logan nodded his understanding.

"If you need anything while staying on your own, don't be afraid to call us. We will all help you grow comfortable living in the village, making friends and doing what you want to in life. You do not have to do this alone." Virgil took in the words and with a sigh, nodded. He found a spot for his house on the side of a hill, closer to the forest. Logan marked it off and they began their walk back. Logan decided to ask him his burning question.

"Virgil, if you're okay with me asking, have you ever self-harmed or thought of doing it?" Virgil's eyes widened at the bluntness in the question. He swallowed the lump in his throat and thought about how to proceed with an answer.

"Y- yes... but I don't do it anymore. It's been over a month since I have..." Logan was surprised at the genuine response. He didn't spot a single lie in what he said. _So why did he have the blades and medication?_

Logan nodded. "I'm glad you stopped. If you ever think of something even remarkably close to thinking you should, please seek mine, or someone else you trust's help. It is a serious topic. I appreciate your honesty." Virgil nodded back at him and they continued to walk on in silence.

* * *

* * *

The next few weeks were a blur. 2 days after Logan had marked where Virgil's house was going to be, Virgil created his dream house subconsciously. It was small but not small enough to cause him to have a panic attack. There was an entire empty room with purple walls and the other rooms had hardly anything in them. Roman thought it could be flashier, Patton thought it could be more bright and Logan thought it was a great thinking place. 

The next few weeks were difficult for Virgil. He summoned whatever he wanted for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. He stayed inside often and the only times he went outside were by the 3's requests. Finally, after 3 weeks, Virgil was starting to get more comfortable. He made friends with his neighbor, Remy, who was constantly drinking Starbucks. He was rather blunt and loud but Virgil grew to like him. 

At the 3 week mark, Roman also made a public announcement that he would be off to go find a new person to "save from their treacherous and cruel life". The crowd cheered and just like that, he vanished into thin air.

* * *

* * *

Roman had an ability that only activated while in this world. He could sense the pain of others. Emotional pain. He usually just allowed his instinct to take over and chose which source of pain to go to. Today, he had decided to chose a boy from Arizona. 

He walked up to the public high school that he felt the aura coming from and waited outside. He wanted a good look at the kid. An hour later, school was released. He looked through the Freshman, then Sophomores, then Juniors, and finally found the boy he was looking for within the seniors. He had walked out and off somewhere down a street. When he was a reasonable distance away, Roman followed behind him. 

Roman was led to a playground with only 3 people. 1 adult, more occupied in her phone, a somewhat older girl, possibly 8th grade, freshman, and a smaller boy, probably still in grade school. The boy Roman was following went up to the little boy with the girl walked away to the lady on her phone. He had a nasty smirk on his face as he walked up to the little boy. His face sent a shiver down Roman's spine. Half his face seemed to have scales and a scar dragged from his nose to his ear. It was a nasty scar, probably from a deep gash. 

He walked up to the little boy and crouched next to him. The boy yelped at the appearance which made the other scowl. The older started talking to the younger but Roman couldn't hear what he was saying. The boy looked extremely scared though. Roman couldn't help but wonder if it was still about the appearance. Roman wanted to step in but didn't. He still needed to observe a bit.

A rage built in Roman as he watched the scaled boy push the younger boy of which started crying. The girl came over and ended up punching him. The girl grabbed the boy's hand and they were gone. The scaled boy sat there, rubbing his cheek for a while. Roman just sat on the grass and watched. Roman was rather confused. He's never been led to a _bully._ So why now. Roman saw tears. Tears streamed down the boy's face but they were quickly rubbed away with the back of his hand and he ran off. Roman followed him easily, without being caught. He entered a home. Roman drew the line of entering homes, but he heard screams. Angry screams. Broken glass. He shuddered, remembering the last case. Virgil's bloody shoulder and the shards of glass still stuck in the wound. The gash was horrible. Roman shuddered and went around the back of the house, making sure he wasn't seen. He climbed up to the upstairs window, with his trusty climbing skills.

Thankfully, the open window he looked through was in the room that the scaled boy had stomped into. He flopped down into his bed, Roman going unnoticed, and seemingly started talking to himself. He was on his stomach so, stealthily, he jumped through the window.

"Hi!" Roman said cheery but quiet enough as to not startle anyone in the house. The boy jumped up so quickly and grabbed something out of his pocket. A knife. Roman put up his hands in defense. Okay, maybe it was a _horrible_ idea to break into their house but he was just on edge after his last case. That glass kinda triggered him in a way. He didn't want anyone else to be hurt. He wanted to protect everyone. "L- look, I have an explanation."

The boy held the knife professionally, as if he's had practice and experience. "Yeah? An explanation for _breaking into my home?_ _Into my **room?**_ Damn, you have some explaining to do or else I _will_ stab you." The boy had no hesitance. Roman had never dealt with someone like that and it made him nervous. 

"H- hey, look. I'm here to save you."

"Save me?" He laughed maniacally. _"Save me?_ What the _hell_ could you possibly to do _save me?"_ He was waving around the knife carelessly and Roman sighed sadly.

"I.. have this world that I created. Everyone is friends. Everyone is so nice. We are a family! A family that care about each other!" 

"Bullshit! Such a place doesn't exist!" he roared, stepping closer, threateningly.

"SHHH! How about this. I show you this world. If you don't like it, I will bring you right back here. Can you please trust me?" 

"Are you not scared of _this?_ Are you not scared that _I_ will ruin your little fantasy world?" he growled, gesturing to his face. 

"No." Roman said, crossing his arms.

"Fine, show me this world. Show me your utopia. You're probably just high off your goddamn mind." Roman smiled as he brought the knife down. He brought it down but he hadn't relaxed yet. Roman held out his hand. 

"You're gonna have to grab my hand for this."

"Fuck no." 

"Dude, I can't do this unless you grab my hand." He grumbled in hate but grabbed his wrist. This was good enough. Roman ran at the wall of his room. He yelled something unintelligible and they sank out, into Roman's fantastical utopia.


	8. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Virgil gets a promotion and Damian scoots into Roman's personal life...  
> a little too far into his life...  
> its almost suspicious...  
> alright im sorry ignore that  
> :>

Roman landed gracefully on the dirt ground while the scaled boy landed on his face in the dirt. He shot up right away, glaring at Roman with pure malice. He then turned to his surroundings. The boy's eyes widened at the surroundings.

Roman winked at him and gave him a charming smile. "Believe me now?"

The boy looked out upon the grounds in awe. Staring at the beautiful castle surrounded by woods, a lake, and a village. He snapped his head at the people surrounding him and immediately got up, dusting himself off.

"Say, I never got your name..." Roman said, raising an eyebrow at the scaled boy. 

"... Damian." he muttered, still taking in the scene. "How is this possible." he breathed.

"Imagination was all it took. And a bit of magic." Roman gestured to everyone around them. "They are all citizens in this kingdom. I am the ruler and they," Roman pointed to 2 other people at the front. "are like my second in commands. Allow me to introduce you." Roman took a large step forward. "I AM BACK WITH A POSSIBLE NEW FAMILY MEMBER! MEET, DAMIAN!" Roman presented Damian with a wave of his hand. At first, Damian looked stiff, searching for a disapproving or skeptical, judging look but found none. Instead, he was greeted with loud cheers. He smiled and puffed out his chest at the warm welcome. For once in his life, he felt important. 

_This place must be so fun to **rule.**_

Roman tapped Damian on the shoulder and he turned to Roman. "Shall I introduce you to my second in commands?" Damian pursed his lips and nodded. Roman gestured for him to follow. Damian was led over to a very professional looking person and a person who looked rather too excited. 

"I'm Patton!" The happy one said to Damian.

"And I, Logan. It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance." the other said, holding a hand for Damian to shake. Damian didn't shake it but instead looked around, intrigued in the castle. 

"Who lives there?"

"Us 3." Roman said with a smile. "Do you wish to join the family? You can escape your other li-"

"YES! I WILL JOIN!" Damian shouted excitedly. Everyone was taken aback by his immediate response. He waited anxiously for their response.

"This dude isn't anything like the last?" Patton muttered.

"Everyone is different, Patton." Roman smiled. He turned to the crowd and made a quick announcement that he had joined the family and so they started their way to the castle.

* * *

* * *

When he had gotten the tour of the castle and decorated his room (most of his room was covered in yellow and black) they settled down at the dining table for dinner. They all ate in a comfortable silence. Logan noticed the many strange glances Damian was shooting all of them as if he were examining everyone whenever he thought they were looking away. Later, while they all ate desert, Roman brought up a very intriguing topic to Logan, Patton and Damian was more than intrigued in getting information.

"Hey... Logan..." Roman started. Logan raised an eyebrow in confusion and Patton glanced up. Damian merely continued to listen with his head bowed down to his plate. "I was wondering about that Virgil boy. How's he doing? I didn't have time to go check on him before I left."

"He is doing fine. Why is that?"

"Does he have a path he wants to follow? A dream? Ambition that you know of?" 

"... As far as I know, he does not. He is more occupied on keeping his anxiety levels at bay." Roman nodded.

"That's kinda what I wanted to talk about. I was wondering.... if he could... find a job somewhere within the castle. He could live here longer... Possibly a guard or more like a police to make sure everything is fine."

"... Isn't that what you do?"

"Well... yes... but Virgil is... Vigilant. And I don't always have time to go around the town and make sure everything is going good. He could be in charge of conjuring the dangerous stuff for citizens once they have permission. He could be the one to give them permission as well. Many people here love coming to get steak knives for a special dinner they had planned and or a gun to hunt in the enchanted forest. He is anxious but that could be a perk. He would be good to always double check and triple check paper work and seek out if people are really ready to use the kinds of stuff like guns and swords for our sword classes. Someone like him could really help with that kind of stuff. So technically he'd be like the... guard cat of Roman's kingdom!" 

"Guard cat." Patton snorted. "I love it!" Logan, however, looked more skeptical. 

"King Roman, I do apologize but... he's lived here for a mere 4 weeks. Do you really think he'd be good for the task so soon? And even if he was, do you think he'd really accept the offer all so soon? We don't know if he can be trusted with the task at all. This is one of the bigger areas in living here and it needs to be handled by the right person. We cannot put the village in danger because of some stupid mistake that Virgil might make! Give it some time to think it over."

"I have, Logan." Roman said. "I think he could be perfect. If we train him with his weapon of choice, teach him how the process goes and all that stuff, he could really become a great guard!"

"Even so, his anxiety might get the better of him!"

"It's not just anxiety... it's like a... fight or flight vibe I get from him. I'm not sure if it's really true but I get the vibe that he would always choose what's best. Step in or back down. That could really help with saving the citizens from say... an attack from the Dragon Witch!"

"I told you that the Dragon Witch is hardly a threat with our army here. How will one member make a difference!?" Logan growled.

"Logan just trust me on this, please! He could make an amazing castle guard!"

"You just met him a couple of weeks ago, you don't know that! You are putting the whole kingdom at risk by hiring a guy you just met! He could screw up at any moment and we'd all be dead!" Logan shouted, slamming his hand down on the table. There was an uncomfortable silence. Roman and Logan glared at each other for a solid 3 minutes before Damian cleared his throat awkwardly.

"Might I ask who this Virgil is and what could possibly cause the kingdom so much harm if this is in fact an imagination created world?"

"First of all," Patton started, glancing at the scowling king and second in command nervously. "the boy who was saved before you is Virgil. He has heightened anxiety and I guess that King Roman decided it was a good idea to use that to his advantage. Say Logan, it would make him feel like his anxiety could be useful. It would help his self-esteem issues." Damian didn't miss how Patton avoided his other question.

"To damn with that." Logan growled. "We can help him with that a different way. Putting the castle at risk to help one person? I thought you were smarter than this, Patton."

"Just-" Roman pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed exasperated. "Give him a chance... please?" Logan stared at him in suspicion. 

"This isn't just about him, is it?" Roman looked down at the table, guiltily. 

"O- of course it's about him! He... just could be useful. He could feel useful. I just, y'know..." _I feel bad. He has so much talent but he thinks that he isn't worth anything. He was abused in more ways than one by more people than a few. He deserves so much more. I'm so glad he's doing well. But why **do**_ _I feel this way? He kinda just... He kinda just stuck to me? I even remembered him back when I was trying to get Damian..._

"I've kinda... grown fond of him. I guess. I want to give him a chance to feel like he's worth something. Just the way he... the way he felt. He has such talent but. _please. Logan._ Let me do this!" Logan glared at Roman but sighed. 

" _Fine._ But one mistake that causes any significant problem, he will _go."_ Logan threatened. Roman nodded eagerly. Logan sighed again, rubbing his temples. "I can't believe I'm actually doing this. He will be informed tomorrow. For tonight, make sure Damian gets settled in."

"Oh, you'd just make the _perfect mom,_ Logan!" 

"M- mom?" Damian observed how Logan blushed at the statement. "Why, Patton, I couldn't see where you could ever think that..." 

"You're so caring and protective! I could just see you making PB&J's for everyone in the kingdom with that special jam you love! Crofter's! You're just so cute in your own way, Logan berryyyyyyy~"

Damian and Roman snorted at the two. 

"So... could I hear more about this Virgil guy?" Damian quietly asked to Roman while Logan and Patton went back and forth, Patton happily making puns and cute remarks and Logan questioning him and his weird antics. 

Roman sighed and leaned his face on his fist. "You already heard but I brought him here only a few weeks ago. When I found him, he was being shoved in a locker by a bunch of bullies. He's fairly claustrophobic so it resulted in a panic attack. When I brought him here, he kind of freaked out by the sight of the others surrounding him. We all managed to calm him down but...

"He has so much talent. I listened to him play on a grand piano. It sounded amazing. But he denies it. He says that everyone in his life has never liked his playing so he just assumed it was bad. That no one liked it. He moved into a somewhat comfy home close to the forest 3 weeks ago, after his week here. During his week here, we also found out he was abused at home. I just want to prove he's good at something. And I don't want him to become a guard just because I feel bad! I truly believe because of his vigilance, he could be a very good guard!" Roman finished with an exasperated sigh. "I also would like to spend a bit more time with him. Him becoming a castle guard, or, we could also call it a royal guard I guess, would mean he lives in the castle with us. I don't think we've had any other person do that."

Damian raised a suggestive eyebrow. "You guys sound _close."_ Damian's left eye flashed a yellow but Roman didn't seem to notice.

"Not really. I just... have a really good feeling about him. He was fun to have around the first week. I kinda want that back..."

"Could it be possible you have developed feelings for the young boy?" Roman coughed loudly which got the attention of the others. They all stared at him, Damian still waiting for an answer.

"W- well, let's not jump to conclusions!"

"So you have?" Damian gave him a smirk and Roman flushed. 

"I- I uh. I barely know him!"

"Huh, Princey, I don't know. You seem like the guy who'd believe in love at first sight." Roman shivered at Damian's use of the nickname Virgil had got him.

"Love at first sight is not real." Logan said. "It is a mere fantasy. In order to develop real feelings you must first feel a connection. You cannot feel a connection with someone without first knowing what they are like. If you 'feel love at first sight', you are merely 'loving' them for their looks. It's figuratively low."

"Oh, so is he cute?" Roman choked again. 

"Can't answer that."

"Oh and why not?" 

"GOD DAMMIT, YES, HE IS CUTE." Roman burst, suddenly going from pale to a bright red. He groaned and buried his face into his hands. 

"Who we talking about?" Patton asked excitedly. "Who is it? Who is it?"

"Shuuuuusshhhhhh Patttttt." Patton turned to Damian expectantly.

"It's the Virgil dude." 

"OOOOOHHHHHHH." 

Damian and Patton spent the rest of the night teasing Roman and Logan just sat there thinking about this _love_ thing.


	9. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Virgil gets informed.  
> And an unexpected friend comes along.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: Panic attack

Due to Roman's eager demands, Logan grudgingly made his way to the Village early morning of the next day. He walked along the paths and to Virgil's house, easily remembering the way. 

"Hey girl!" he heard the familiar voice of Remy, Virgil's neighbor, calling to him. 

"Hell, Remy. How are you this fine morning?" 

"I'm great. Hey, wanna stop by for a coffee? Black coffee just for you!" he purred. Logan smiled at this.

"No, thank you Remy. I am here on an errand. I am to bring Virgil to the castle. We are discussing future plans for him."

"Oh? The castle? What's the occasion?" Remy raised a brow in confusion. Logan supposed he was thinking back on his talk about future plans. For everyone, we had just talked about it in their home. Virgil will be the first to talk directly with King Roman about plans.

"King Roman wishes to make him a castle guard. He believes that he would be very good, due to his anxiety. I understand where they comes from but he just came a few weeks ago! It's absurd. Honestly."

"I don't knooooww, he's not _too_ bad. Give 'em a chance, girl!" Logan huffed and nodded. "Cyaaaaa, and good luck!" 

"Thank you, Remy. Have a good day." Logan bid him farewell and left for the next house over. 

Logan knocked on Virgil's door. He heard shuffling behind the door and the door opened a crack. Virgil peaked out and smiled shyly, opening the door.

"Hi Logan. Do you want to come in?" 

"No thank you, Virgil. I'm actually here on Roman's request. He wishes to speak with you back at the castle. 

Virgil's heart started to race. _Why am I needed at the castle? Did I do something wrong? Are they going to send me back to my world?_

"I- I. W- Why?" he muttered. Logan saw the fear in Virgil's eyes and he softened his gaze and shot him a small smile. It wasn't Virgil he was mad at. Virgil did not make the dumb decision.

"You are not in trouble, I promise. Roman would just like to discuss some matters with you, is all." Logan placed a gentle hand on Virgil's shoulder. Virgil flinched slightly but accepted the touch. Logan beckoned him to follow and so they left for the castle.

* * *

* * *

Virgil's anxiety had shot through the roof when they walked into the castle. Despite what Logan said about him not being in trouble, his anxiety was getting the better of him.

**_He probably just said that so you would come with him._ **

**_He'll probably be kicking you out after they figured out that you couldn't offer anything for this world._ **

**_You're just as useless here as your world._ **

Virgil's breathing started to pick up and he began shaking. He tried to take deep breaths so that Logan wouldn't notice but he could feel a panic attack coming. Virgil felt a hand rest on his shoulder and he flinched violently. The hand immediately reeled back and instead, Logan went to counting. 

"Inhale for 4. Hold for 7. Exhale for 8. Virgil, can you do that for me please?" Virgil shakily nodded and began doing the 4, 7, 8 pattern with the help of Logan holding up his fingers as he counted.

Virgil managed his breathing eventually. He let out a shaky breath and gave Logan a shy smile. "I'm s- sorry."

"Virgil, you have nothing to be sorry about. Are you alright now or do you wish to go back home?" 

"I- I can go. I'm alright. Thank you." Virgil whispered. Logan flashed him a soft smile and squeezed Virgil's hand comfortingly. Logan led him to the dining hall where Roman had planned on talking with him. As expected, Logan found Roman at the end of the table with paperwork and an excited look on his face. Patton sat next to him. He gave Virgil a cheery smile but that quickly disappeared as he saw Virgil's state.

"Oh! Kiddo, what happened?!" Patton leaped up and ran over to Virgil. He looked rather shaken up but not much else. Just leave it up to Patton to notice the smallest of things. 

"Patton, please stop smothering him. I will be talking about that in a second." Logan turned to Virgil calmly. "Please go take a seat next to Patton." Virgil gave a small nod and both of them went back to the table, Roman looking rather confused in Logan's furious gaze and Patton's sudden reaction to the sight of Virgil.

"I- is something wrong, Logan?" Roman asked.

" _Yes. Something is wrong."_ Logan growled. "We went through this last night! _He is not ready."_

"Are you still going on about this?" Roman stood abruptly. Virgil shrunk in on himself and Patton squeezed his shoulder reassuringly. 

"I will not question what ability you think he has. But I will question what makes you think _he_ wants this! He had a panic attack on the way here for god's sake. He's _terrified_ of the unknown so what makes you think that he'll want to take up a job where he will be surrounded by the unknown. Anything can happen and that's what frightens him _most."_

Virgil looked down ashamed and Patton scooted closer to him in attempts to comfort him. 

"Let him decide that!" 

"What's going on?" A voice from the other end of the table sounded. Everyone looked over to find Damian looking at them curiously.

"Damian! Hey buddy! We'll be right with you in a second, could you please wait somewhere else? We'll call you when we're done." Patton said cheerily.

"Is that Virgil?" Damian questioned, pointing to Virgil who was trying to escape within the hoodie he wore.

"Eh, yes." Patton answered.

"Please leave, Damian. Now is not the time." Logan stated.

"Oh but I'm just so intrigued!" he purred. Logan scowled at him but Roman just shrugged. 

"He can stay, there is no problem with that." 

"You take too many chances!" Logan growled but didn't say anything else about the situation. 

"I believe we should allow Virgil to choose. You guys are just making him more anxious by leaving him in the dark." Patton said. Damian casually sat right next to Virgil and he scooted closer to Patton, away from Damian.

"I'm sorry to be such a bother..." Virgil whispered to Patton. Patton inhaled silently. 

"Kiddo, you could never." he whispered back, squeezing his shoulder again.

Logan turned to Virgil. "What Roman wishes to do is train you to become a royal guard for the castle. Using your vigilance to check paperwork for and conjuring dangerous things for people. He believes your anxiety could be very helpful when checking paperwork and or seeing if someone is really ready to use something dangerous for the task they wish to use it in. In short, he would like you to be in charge of conjuring any dangerous materials citizens may need and keeping everyone safe, including us 3. We have other guards around the kingdom but you'd be one of the few royal guards. And the only one to join straight away. You know what, this just sounds downright stupid." Logan turned back around to Roman but continued to talk to Virgil. "Though, I do not deny that you _could_ use your vigilance to some use, I do not believe you'd be up to a task so big only a few weeks after coming here." 

Virgil shivered. No. Yes? Maybe. He didn't know. Would he really want this? They offered him something so big. So important so soon. 

_What if I mess up? What if put others in danger? What will happen if I can't do my job right?_

Virgil curled up in the chair and sank further into it. Logan waved a hand at Virgil's reaction and looked at Roman with a raised eyebrow. Roman sat back down in his seat and looked down at the table, ashamed. 

"I'm sorry, Virge. I didn't consider what you might feel about it."

"I'll take the job if you need me to."

"I was stupid to think you'd want the job only wee- wait what?" Roman looked up surprised. Logan looked at Virgil like he just slapped him and Damian hid a smile. This is what he had hoped for. 

"Kiddo, if you don't wish to take the job, we won't force you!" Patton said. "There is no reason for you to make such a drastic decision right away." 

"I'll take it. Only if you guys want me to though..." Virgil looked mildly uncomfortable but confident. Everyone stayed quiet, waiting for Roman to talk. 

"Good. That's great Virgil! I'm so glad that you're willing to do this. If you ever wish to drop out or quit, do not be afraid to tell us!" Roman said happily. 

"I guess... since you are training to be a guard now, you will be living with us for the meantime before being escorted to where the others live when you are fully trained." Damian smiled to himself again.

_I could use this._

Before Virgil could answer, there was a loud ringing. 

The bell.

"Why do we still have the door bell, Roman." Logan questioned. Roman shrugged and got up to go check the door. He came back with Remy. 

"VIRGIE BABY!!! HELLO!!!" Virgil jumped at the voice of his neighbor running over to Virgil and wrapping him up in a bear hug.

"R- REMYYYY NOOOO." he whined as he was picked up bridal style. "Put me dooooooooowwwwwwwn." 

"No can do sweetie. I hear you're gonna become a royal guarrddddd. I wanna train to be a royal guard too!" Remy announced proudly. Everyone looked at him like he was crazy. 

"First of all, how the hell did you know he was gonna become... you know what, nevermind. You can't just become a royal guard. You have to go through the rankings." Logan stated. "The only reason Virgil will be training for royal guard is because it was on King Roman's demands."

"Well then I demand that Roman demand that I become a trainee too. I have to stick close to my bro." he said, rubbing Virgil's head roughly.

"Remmyyyyyy- I don't need to be watched all the time." Virgil complained, giving up on trying to escape Remy. Remy was much stronger than him.

"Ah but I disagree." Remy laughed. Logan glared at Roman, knowing he didn't like saying no. He could tell he was struggling.

"I mean... it wouldn't hurt... Remy is one of the longest lasting members here... And he has exceptional strength..."

"YOU CANNOT BE SERIOUS!" Logan shouted.

"Completely."

"YAAAAAAAAYYYY 2 NEW ROOMIES!!!" Patton clapped and bounced happily. Logan glanced at this smiled slightly despite himself. He sighed exasperated. 

_"Any problems and we will send you two right back to the village."_ Remy gave Logan a huge smile and Virgil a suffocating hug. "Tonight you guys will be settling in. Tomorrow we start. Get some rest. _I will not being going easy on the two of you."_


	10. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Virgil and Remy wake up  
> Virgil runs into Damian  
> Damian is a scary boi to Virgil

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: Small Small panic attack
> 
> Also, I'm working on chapter 11 rn so it should be done by tonight.

Remy insisted on sleeping with Virgil that night. He didn't really sleep but he did share a room. Virgil couldn't sleep and Remy chose not to. 

"Hey gurl, why you still up?" Remy questioned, after taking a sip of his 5th Starbucks cup he conjured that day and looking up from his phone. "Can't sleep." Virgil shook his head and turned to the grand piano he conjured in the corner of the room. Remy followed his gaze and smiled.

"You play?" he asked softly.

"I guess." 

"Wanna play?" Virgil _did_ wanna play. He wanted to so badly. But with Remy here? Who knows what he'd think! So Virgil did the only logical thing.

"No, not really." Virgil sank into the bed and stared at the ceiling of the huge room. Remy lied next to him, drinking his Starbucks, holding his phone right about his head.

But he wasn't looking at his phone. He kept glancing at Virgil. He kept fidgeting with the sleeves of his hoodie and he looked too anxious for Remy to ignore.

After a few minutes, Remy spoke up.

"If you want to play, you should." Virgil made a sound of surprise but didn't respond. "Go ahead." Virgil sighed.

"Any recommendations?"

"Play whatever." Virgil grunted and hopped up off the bed. He made his way to the grand piano slowly and Remy patiently waited from the bed. 

Virgil carefully sat down, opened the lid to the keys and brushed his fingertips over them lightly, thinking. 

Finally, he pressed down on one key. Waited. Then another. And soon he was deeply invested into Sorry by Halsey. He began singing.

"I've missed your calls for months it seems, don't realize how mean I can be. 'Cause I can sometimes treat the people that I love like jewelry." He continued this song and finished playing with a strong last few notes. Remy stared at him in awe as he stood, closed the grand piano and walked back to the bed. Virgil didn't say anything and didn't dare look at Remy as he curled up on his side of the bed. Remy didn't break the silence. Virgil's breaths turned into deep, relaxed breathing but Remy knew better. Virgil was just pretending. And it concerned Remy how damn good he was at it. Unfortunate for him, Remy was a master at it too. 

"It was amazing." Remy whispered. Virgil didn't answer but instead, cuddled closer to the covers. Remy smiled at this he too, decided to sleep.

* * *

* * *

Remy woke up in a cold sweat, breathing heavily. He could feel the hands all over him. He could feel _everything._ And most of all, he could feel the bed suddenly lurch a little as the person he shared it with woke up similarly to him. A whimper. It immediately made Remy protective and make a whole 90 degree body turn towards Virgil. He was shaking violently and tears crept down his face.

"Can I touch you, Virgil?" Virgil took a moment to respond but eventually he gave a small nod, using his breathing exercises to ground himself more. When Remy slowly wrapped his arms around Virgil, Virgil noticed Remy's slight shake and his breathing was uneven. 

"4,7,8." Virgil whispered, seemingly to himself but his intention was to remind Remy. "4,7,8." he repeated and eventually, he could hear Remy follow suit and his own breathing slowing to a less concerning pace.

After a minute of holding each other, Remy whispered to the other. "You too, huh?" Virgil nodded slowly. "Do you want to talk about it?" Virgil shook his head, no. 

"How about you?" Virgil asked. 

"No, not right now." Remy checked the time on his phone. 5:38 AM. Training started at 10. That was the latest Logan would allow. 

"You think you can go back to sleep?" Virgil asked, looking over Remy's shoulder at his phone. Remy huffed halfheartedly.

"Nope, you?"

"Absolutely not."

"What do you want to do? I think I'm going to go take a shower first..." Remy said, still shaking. He needed to get rid of the feeling of _them._

"I'll go take a shower too."

"There's only one in this room though?" 

"There's another one just down the hall that's open to us all." Virgil explained. "I remember the tour, surprisingly. Or, just the important parts." Remy laughed. 

"It's been years since I first joined. I don't remember it much at all. _I_ only remember the unimportant parts. Like the game room in the basement. Actually, that;s a bad example. That is very important to remember."

"Pfff." They sat in a comfortable silence, both still shaking from their nightmares. Eventually Remy got up, conjured some clothes and a towel and walked to the bathroom in the corner of the room. Virgil got up as well, making his way out of the room.

Because of the dark halls, Virgil had to use his phone light to navigate his way through. Just as he was about to enter the bathroom, his flashlight landed on the boy Virgil had saw earlier by the name of Damian. He jumped at the sight and ended up falling on his butt. 

"Eh... hi..." Damian muttered, surprised to see anyone up at this hour.

"What are you doing up this early?!" Virgil whispered urgently. "You gave me a heart attack!"

"S- sorry. Just, uh, exploring."

"At this hour?" 

Damian didn't answer. "What are _you_ doing up?" 

"I'm taking a shower. Remy is using the other shower." 

_"At this hour?"_ Damian mocked. Virgil looked down nervously. He's dealt with bullies and he sounded exactly like one at that moment, whether he meant to or not. So much so that he felt the need to explain or else...

"I- We had a nightmare and woke up and we couldn't get back to sleep so we were just gonna take a shower before we begin the d- day." 

"Oh?" Damian's eye flashed a yellow. Virgil didn't notice because he continued to look down in spite of himself. "What was the nightmare about?" Damian questioned, eager to obtain information.

Once again, Virgil felt pressured to respond. He started to shake and his eyes began to water.

"M- my father." Virgil whispered. "Is all."

"What about your father?" 

"I-" Virgil paused, tears dripping down no matter how hard he tried to keep them from doing so.

"Damian? Virgil? What are you two doing up at this hour?" Virgil jumped at a sound behind him. He shined his flashlight at the source of the noise and found Roman standing there. Virgil tried to wipe away his tears quickly but it was too late. Roman had already seen them. Damian just stood there, watching as Roman quickly trotted up to Virgil. 

"Virge, hon, what's wrong?" Roman whispered.

"Nothing. I was just up to take a shower because I woke up and just couldn't fall back asleep. Remy is up too, taking a shower in our room. I was just going to that bathroom." Virgil shakily pointed at the bathroom in front of them. "Can I...?" Roman nodded understandingly and beckoned him to go. Virgil silently escaped to the bathroom and closed the door quickly. 

Roman walked up to Damian, suspicious at how emotionless he looked as he had just found Virgil in tears. 

"What happened?" Roman questioned, failing to keep out the accusation in his voice.

"What you think _I_ had something to do with it?" Damian asked in mock innocence, gesturing to himself. 

"Just, what happened."

"Oh, I don't know! I just found him making his way to the bathroom. He was already in tears when I found him! You came along before I could ask what was wrong." The lie rolled of the tongue with ease.

It didn't go unnoticed to Roman how different Damian's attitude is now then when he first was found. Roman let it go with a huff of acknowledgement. 

"Just get back to your room. You have no reason to be up." Roman said not unkindly. 

"Oh but I do! I was just exploring!" Roman considered this. 

"Fine, but don't go into any closed doors at this hour. And stay silent. Patton and Logan are still sleeping." And with that, Roman turned around and left for the first floor of the castle. 

Damian smirked and with a nod, continued to explore.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am now not only continuing this for myself.  
> I got my first comment and I loved their comment so now I am freaking SET on making them satisfied with this so like >:>  
> IDK I really like reading comments on my other fics and this one I haven't gotten a single comment on, until now of course and I'm just super happy so :'> thanks Minnow you made my day :>>>>
> 
> Also, on my 2 series I currently have, I always look at bookmarks bc those are the people who want more and I always get just as excited seeing bookmarks as I do comments so like XD  
> aNd Minnowshadow BoOkMaRkEd  
> along with 4 other people  
> TheSweaterWizard  
> FelicianoARoma  
> DarkAkuma  
> Cheonsa  
> So like thanks a ton, everyone who reads this (meaning you read this far, congrats) and everyone who bookmarks or comments  
> super appreciated <3  
> Oh my god, I jUsT hAvE a LoT Of fEeLiNgS


	11. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Remy is a protective big brother to Virgil

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: A little bit of self depreciation, panic attack, description of someone in a flashback (does not go into detail on the flashback), suggestive past physical abuse and suggestive past self harm.

Remy got out of the shower feeling a little better. He often has that dream and tonight was no different. He thought about the dream and his usual questions like _why do I still have it_ or _can't I just get over it? This is so frustrating!_ But his attention went to Virgil as he realized he wasn't back yet.

 _I wonder what Virgil's dream was of._ Remy sat on the bed and scrolled through Tumblr for about half an hour before he put it down and looked up concerned. The door remained just as unopened as the last 30 minutes. Remy decided to give it another half hour and if he wasn't out by then, he'd go check up on him.

Half an hour later, Remy was hella concerned. He jumped out of bed and trotted up to the door, whipping it up and swiftly walking to the bathroom Virgil told Remy about. He found it with ease and knocked rapidly. There was no response but a whimper behind the door. Remy tried the door and was happy to find it unlocked though why Virgil had it unlocked was beyond him. Remy ran in and found Virgil curled up in the shower, tears running down his face. He was shivering violently. Remy whipped his hand under the shower and found it to be freezing. 

"Shhhh, Virgil, it's alright, calm down." Remy tried to touch his shoulder to try and ground him without thinking and Virgil flinched violently and tried to get away. His gaze was faraway and he didn't seem to register that it was Remy in front of him. When he touched him he started to whimper loudly.

"Please don't, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry." he cried. Remy frowned at this and turned off the shower head quickly.

"Virgil shhh, it's not happening. You're at the palace, you're safe." Remy tried to soothe. He watched his friend suffer helplessly, whispering encouraging and grounding things in any attempt to calm him down. When Virgil had stopped muttering and his focus was coming back, Remy began to analyze his body. He had white or faded lines on his wrists and one of his shoulders had stitching on it. The rest of his body was littered in scars that indicated either self harm, abuse, or both and it made Remy's skin crawl. He could sympathize.

"Virgil... Honey. Can you hear me?" he asked softly. He shot Virgil a soft smile when he turned to look Remy in the eyes. He nodded slowly. Remy sighed in relief. "Can you stand?" he asked Virgil. Virgil looked down at his body and his already shaking body began to shake more if that was even possible. Tears poured again and Remy's eyes widened as he recognized the beginning of a panic attack.

"Y- you saw. G- god I'm so d- d- disgusting." he whispered. 

"No baby, you aren't disgusting. You-" Remy looked down. _It wouldn't be too bad showing him. Maybe it'll help him calm down._ Remy slowly took off his shirt with a shiver and spread out his arms. "Virgil, you aren't the only one. Baby, we are all scarred whether physically, mentally or both. You and I were some of the more unfortunate ones." Virgil's eyes scanned Remy's body. Old scars littered his body, just like Virgil. Remy thought he made the wrong choice when a sob tore through Virgil but was quickly enveloped in a tight hug.

"Oh my god, I'm so sorry Remy." he cried into Remy's shoulder. Remy noticed how cold he was. He had been in that cold shower for at _least_ 50 minutes.

"Shhh. You have nothing to be sorry about." A few tears escaped Remy as well but yet he smiled at the embrace. "Let's get you out of the shower, shall we?" 

"Y- yeah..." Virgil muttered, embarrassed. A light blush crossed his face. He hesitantly pulled away from the warming hug and tried to get up with the support of Remy. He swayed precariously but slowly stepped out of the shower and dried himself off with a towel. Remy gave him his clothes and with the consent of Virgil, left the bathroom for him to get changed but left the door a crack open and stayed right outside. A few minutes later, Virgil stepped out, his arms wrapped around himself and shivering.

"Hon, do you know how long you were in there?"

"About 45 to 50 minutes I think."

"It's almost 7:30. Do you want to go downstairs and get some breakfast or stay up here?"

"I'll..." Virgil thought about his a moment. "How about we go downstairs." he muttered. 

"Sounds good." As Virgil and Remy made their way down the stairs, Virgil turned to Remy. 

"Are you okay?" Remy turned to Virgil in surprise.

"Hon, if anything, I'm more worried about you than myself!" Virgil shook his head.

"It wasn't nothing what you showed me. I... thank you. Remy." he choked. Remy scanned Virgil's face and all he saw was concern. 

"You're too selfless for this." Remy muttered with a smile. "I'm okay." Remy waited to say anything until they made it to the dining hall and saw no one was in there yet. "Hey Virgil." Virgil turned to look at Remy. "What triggered your flashback if you don't mind me asking." Virgil shivered.

"I... well right before I made it to the bathroom I ran into Damian... He just... brought up some memories with bullies and my life at home is all." Virgil saw Remy's eyes narrow in suspicion. 

"What happened with him?" 

"He just... I don't know. He just reminded me of... my bullies. And I felt obligated to answer him! You know... because it was like... he was one of them.. and they usually beat me if I didn't answer their questions. I just didn't wanna get.. hurt... a reflex. He asked about why I was up and I told him I had a nightmare and he told me to tell him and thatpartjustkindaremindedmeofmydadbecausehewasusuallyratherdemandingandhe'dusually-"

"Whoa, sweet, slow down, it's okay." Virgil took a long breath before starting again.

"He reminded me of both my dad and my bullies at the same time and it just brought up some awful memories... At home..." 

"We can continue this later, Virgil. Let's eat first." As they sat down at the table. Remy noticed how Virgil still shivered and rubbed at his arms a bit. He conjured a soft blanket and draped it around Virgil. He clutched the corners around him gratefully and shot him a small smile. 

"Thanks."

"Any time..." Remy also conjured a starbucks for himself. "What do you want to eat?" Virgil looked at him confused.

"I can just conjure stuff." 

"Love, did they ever teach you how conjuring _really_ works? You do lose some of your energy when you conjure, depending on how big or how much you conjure of something. Though food takes only a little energy, you must be exhausted. Flashbacks _are_ exhausting and I just don't want you too drained." Remy's eyes widened. "Oh! Do you want to go to training today? I can tell Logan that you're sick today?" 

"N- no... I can get through training. And I don't really want anything to eat, now that I think about it. I know I should eat something but... I don't think I'll be able to stomach anything. Can you just conjure some kind of light drink?" Remy nodded with a smile.

"Understandable." And Remy conjured a small cup of tea and scooted it over to Virgil. He took a small sip of it and recognized the flavor.

"Peppermint." he muttered, smiling at the taste. 

"Yes. It helps whenever I'm feeling a bit nauseated." Remy soothed, taking a drink of his Starbucks after.

"Hello, guys." A voice said from across the room. Remy looked up in distaste and Virgil shrunk into himself at the sound of Damian. "Lovely morning, isn't it?"

"What do _you_ want?" Remy growled as he made his way to the table.

"Why, can't I have breakfast." Remy grumbled a complaint but allowed him to take a seat. Damian decided to sit right next to Virgil. Remy got up immediately and beckoned Virgil out of his chair. Remy sat down in his chair and Virgil in the chair Remy had sat in. Both of them returned the drinks to their rightful owner and Remy glared at Damian triumphantly while Virgil only looked confused on the sudden switch. Damian only gave him a shit eating grin in return which pissed Remy off.

"Who the fuck do you think you are." Remy growled to Damian, only loud enough so that Damian was the only person who heard. 

"Oh! Why I only wanted to enjoy some breakfast and get to know Virgil!" Damian said in mock innocence, conjuring a plate of multiple breakfast foods. Virgil took a quick drink of his tea. Even looking at greasy food made him sick. He turned away from the food and closed his eyes, keeping his cup close and hoping he didn't puke all over the floor. His nausea had only gotten worse since Damian came in.

Remy noticed Virgil's reaction and inspected Damian's plate. Sausage, a bit of ham and eggs, bacon, and hash browns. _All of it is greasy._

"You bitch." Remy growled, not concerned at all of anyone hearing him. "You got that on purpose!"

"Why, I just wanted a big breakfast today! There's nothing to it!"

"Get rid of that food or eat it somewhere else!" Remy shouted.

"MMmmm. No, I think I'll eat here today." Remy nearly lounged at him but Virgil stopped him.

"Hey, Remy, it's fine! I feel fine!" But Remy refused to take Damian's bullshit. However, before he could continue to argue with the boy, he heard someone walk in.

"Heya kiddos! You guys are up early! What ya doin'?"

"Just eating breakfast, Patton." Damian smiled at him as he walked up to the table. 

"That's a lot of greasy food, Damian... You sure you can eat all that?"

"Oh, I'll manage." Damian huffed and he began to eat everything rather slowly. Remy gripped the table angrily but turned to Virgil. He looked uncomfortable and a bit pale but didn't seem as cold. Patton picked up on the atmosphere quickly.

"Is... there something wrong?" he asked.

"Nope! Everything is great!" Damian said, stuffing food in his mouth before talking. 

_He's doing this on purpose._ Remy thought begrudgingly as Virgil took another quick sip of his peppermint tea.

"Patton. May I talk to you alone?" Remy asked through gritted teeth. Patton seemed taken aback by how Remy was acting but nodded. 

"S- sure. We can talk in the living room." Remy was about to go but stopped in his tracks. 

"Virgil, come with us, and take your tea." Virgil nodded quickly and they all left.

As soon as they got in, Remy whipped his head around to face Patton.

"Who the _hell_ is he?" 

"D- Damian?"

"He has been _harassing_ Virgil since this morning and I am _not_ going to stand aside and listen to this shit." Remy growled with pure malice. Virgil shivered and bowed his head. 

_**He has to defend you and you're letting him. So weak. So pathetic.** _

_**Can't even get through a tummy ache by yourself.** _

"Y- you don't have to d- defend me. Remy." Virgil whispered. Remy's gaze softened as he turned to Virgil.

"Hon, I know what you're thinking. You are _worth_ defending! Also, he is just down right being a _dick."_ Remy place a hand on his shoulder and turned to Patton. "Virgil has had a very long morning. Is there anyway he can skip today's training?" 

"Of course! If he isn't feeling okay, I'd be more than happy to inform Logan." Patton said. "What happened this morning?"

Remy turned to Virgil and he nodded his consent for Remy to continue so Remy told Patton all the details starting from when Remy found Virgil in the shower.

As the story went on, Patton seemed to grow increasingly concerned and kept glancing at Virgil. When he finished with the story, Patton spoke.

"Kiddo, are you okay now?"

"I'm fine right now. And I don't have to skip out on training, I can go!" Virgil insisted. Patton seemed skeptical but nodded. 

"Tell us if you need a break, alright? Today is just the first day but being a Royal Guard isn't all fun and games. There are... things... that you must be ready for. And about Damian. Are you sure this is all on purpose?"

"YES! ABSOLUTELY!" Remy growled. Patton nodded sadly. 

"I was told he wasn't exactly the nicest person to be saved. Alright, I'll talk to the other 2 and we can talk to Damian. I apologize, Virgil. Really." 

"It's fine..." Virgil muttered into his empty cup. 

"Do you want more?" 

Virgil looked up with a guilty smile. "Do you mind?" 

"Not at all!" Remy said cheerily. I just went from protective brother, 'I will fight anyone who hurts you' mode to happy, 'I don't give a fuck' mode real quick and it scared Virgil slightly. Remy conjured some more peppermint tea into the cup and Virgil smiled at him.

"Thank you." 

"Do you guys want to hang in here?" Patton asked. "To stay away from Damian for the time being. 

"That would be awesome, thank you so much for your help, Patt. Love you." Remy sing songed and Patton giggled. 

"Love you too, Remy. I hope your guys' days' get better from here. We can talk at dinner about it. C'ya then!" Patton called as he walked out and back into the dining hall. 

Virgil and Remy finished their drinks and escaped to their room to get ready for the day. They talked about what to expect in the training and if it was going to be as hard as they said it would be. Virgil told him that he thought he was going to fail fairly quickly and that he didn't have any strength but Remy seemed pretty confident that his reflexes could really help him out and he also mentioned how confident he was that he'd pass. This talk went on for a few hours along with a few lighthearted side conversations as they waited for the time to come.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the next chapter will be training, I promise ;-;


	12. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Virgil and Remy start training.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We are finally moving along the main plot >:3 well i mean we kinda already have but this is really getting it started, shush, just enjoy the chapter, it'll be one of the rare chances I get to type on a weekday because of work, omg my drink is sweating so much alright onto the story  
> (its a strawberry chocolate drink)

"Virgil, Remy! It's about time we get going to the training grounds." Roman's voice sounded through their door. Remy looked to Virgil with a smirk, grabbed his hand and dragged him across the room to the door, despite the many protests from Virgil.

"C'mon, darling! It's your time to _shine."_

"What about you!?"

"Gurl, we know I'll shine either way." Remy opened the door and Roman gave him a questioning look with a smile. 

"What are you 2 doing?"

"Going to training, dummy." Roman made some offended princey noises. "Well? Take us to the training grounds! I can't wait to see the other royal guards!!!" Remy yelled, dragging Virgil out of the room and running downstairs. Roman shouted at them to stop but laughed and followed after them.

Roman and Logan followed the boisterous pair along a path behind the kingdom. The east woods rounded the castle to the back and even wrapped around the lake some miles back. The forest was huge and right in the center of it, was the base camp for the Royal guards and army.

As they neared the edge of the wooded area, Logan called for their attention.

"Remy, Virgil." he demanded. Remy immediately went quiet and turned his head to look at Logan casually. Virgil did a full body turn, completely alert. "When we enter the woods, I need you to stick close to us. There are creatures that you do not want to approach. Remy knows this as he has lived here many years but Virgil, this is a warning to you. Do not approach anything as it could mean your life. Do you understand?"

Virgil quickly nodded and Remy smiled and gave him a thumbs up. "Got it, L!" Logan cringed at the name but accepted their answers and began walked into the forest.

5 minutes later and they were already entering the thick of the forest. There was a thin path that would be easy to stray off of if it wasn't for Roman and Logan leading the way with ease. This calmed Virgil. Slightly. His breathing was still quietly limited and his steps a bit shaky and slow. Despite how much Virgil sped up at any noise heard or slowed at any branch they had to carefully step over, Remy was beside Virgil the entire time. He slowed and sped up to Virgil's need and helped him with breathing exercises whenever Remy thought it necessary.

"You doing okay?"

"Yep, just great." Virgil said, nervously staring at the thick forest full of the unknown. 

_Shit, who knows what's out there, lurking, waiting for us to be close enough so it can **pounce.**_

"HOLY SHIT!" Virgil shouted as he fell back on the path and stared in fear at the forest. "W- what was _that?"_

"What was what?! Where?" Remy immediately turned to the forest and tracked down what Virgil had seen. Before anyone could react, a small object flew out of the forest and landed next to Virgil. He squeaked and tried to escape but the ball of fur just jumped on top of Virgil. And stayed there. He froze and watched as the little animal lied down and curled up on his chest. Virgil's breathing evened out slowly as he realized the animal had fallen asleep. He inspected it. It had blue fur with tan underfur and it's snout was white. It had big ears, a long, thin snout and a big bushy tail. But what surprised Virgil most was the folded wings on either side of it that were a light blue tinted with white.

Remy gasped as he realized what the animal was. "It's a baby Fennec Ice Fox! HOLY SHIT THAT'S SO COOL. YOU ONLY USUALLY FIND FENNEC FIRE FOXES AAAAAAAAAAAAA VIRGIL YOU LUCKY SON OF A BITCH!" 

Virgil stared at it a moment before tentatively raising a hand and softly rubbing its head. After a while, Virgil jumped when the fox yipped happily but smiled. 

"VIRGIL WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?" Logan shouted. "GET THAT THING OFF YOUR CHEST RIGHT NOW!" The fox jumped up when it heard the angry voice and protectively stood in front of Virgil who was now sitting up staring at Logan in panic. The fox growled at Logan while he just scoffed at it. Virgil looked down in surprise as he suddenly felt a chill run down his spine and the ground around the fox was frosting over.

"What the?" 

"It is a Fennec Ice Fox. There are many different types of Fennec Foxes in this forest but this one tends to be more rare. How you found it, I don't know but that doesn't matter because it must go _now."_ Logan growled. Virgil looked down sadly at the baby fox.

"But, it's alone. And it's only a baby!" 

"It's mother will find it soon enough. Now leave it." Virgil got up off the ground and the fox suddenly turned around and stared at Virgil. It's eyes were so small and innocent. This made Virgil frown. 

"I'm sorry buddy." The fox spread out its wings and flew up in the air, landing on Virgil's shoulder and nuzzling his face.

"I think it likes him, Logan." Remy joked. Logan scowled.

"Leave it, Virgil." Virgil stared at the Fox for a while and it stared right back.

"Let him keep it." a voice sounded behind Logan. Logan turned around to find Roman looking at Virgil and the fox staring at each other with sadness. He huffed amused. "The fox won't kill him. It seems happy."

"Yeah yeah, everything seems fine until _Virgil is frozen over in thin ice and then slowly dying from hypothermia."_

"Alright Mr. Ray of Sunshine." Roman muttered and walked away, beckoning them to follow. Logan huffed his disagreement but followed, glancing worriedly at the fox. Remy smiled. 

"Don't worry about it Virgil. That's just Logan's way of caring." he said, clapping Virgil on the back softly and continuing onward. The fox gave a small yip and Virgil followed the others, allowing the fox just stay perched on his shoulder. 

Virgil noticed a clearing ahead after 30 minutes of walking. Remy smiled excitedly and ran ahead of the rest despite Logan's protests and Roman telling Remy to wait. He broke free of the thick forest and out into the base camp of the guard. He smiled happily and began looking around excitedly, muttering something.

Virgil caught up to the rest just as Logan began nagging Remy even though he clearly wasn't listening. Logan sighed exasperated and told them to follow him through camp. They passed many tents. Many soldiers passed them with quick formal greetings or solutes and _all_ of them stared at the Fennec Ice Fox still sitting on Virgil's shoulder, watching all of them back. Virgil snorted as it growled at one of the soldiers who got uncomfortably close to him and they shifted away from Virgil and the fox. 

"HEY!" Remy shouted at one point and it made everyone jump along with everyone around them. Remy ran to one particular soldier and jumped on them with an overwhelming hug. "THOMAAAAAAAS!" Remy cried with a huge smile. "IT'S BEEN TOO LONG!" 

The man squeaked but smiled. "Hey, Rem! Why are you here?!" 

"I'M GOING TO BE TRAINING TO BE A ROYAL GUARD DUDE!" Remy screamed excitedly. The man frowned and broke away from the hug. Remy gave him a questioning smile and nervous laugh. "... Thomas? What's wrong?" 

"Hello, Thomas. How are you?" Logan walked up to them with Roman and Virgil following close behind him.

"A... Royal Guard? Now?" 

"Yes! Isn't that great...?" 

"I..." Virgil caught a glimpse of fear but it disappeared quickly and Thomas turned to Logan, saluting him and Roman. "Greetings King Roman. Logan.... Why are you guys here." Thomas' salute faltered. 

"We are here to train 2 new potential Royal Guards. You already know Remy." Logan gestured to Remy and then to Virgil. "But Virgil is the reason we are training any at all. Due to Roman's request, Virgil will be training to be a Royal Guard.... without having to make his way up to the ranks. Along with Remy. It's absurd but Roman is obviously not taking 'no' for an answer." Logan finished dully. 

"Virgil, this is General Thomas Sanders. I don't know if you've guessed but Logan is second in command and a General as well. Though we don't really use titles, everyone is expected to treat the soldiers with respect."

"I'm sorry Roman but why are you training them to become a Royal Guard _now._ Now is a horrible time. Especially with... _it_ on the loose."

"Now is the perfect time. Plus, when Virgil is done with training, he will be stationed at the castle. He is in no immediate danger."

"But what about Remy?"

"He too will be stationed at the castle." Thomas relaxed a bit and smiled until Remy scowled.

"I'm sorry but why am I stationed at the castle? I want to fight!" he growled, pumping a fist into the air. "What is this _it_ you talk about anyway?" Roman, Thomas and Logan paused uncomfortably. Virgil's fox broke the silence.

"The thing they talk about is _Dragon King."_ the fox growled. Everyone jumped, including Virgil causing the fox yip in surprise.

"It _talked."_ Virgil whispered.

"Mmmm, indeed I did, Virgil. That's your name right?" Virgil gave it a slow nod, never looking away. "My name is Shanks."

"Sh- Shanks? Like from Harry Potter?" 

"Yes and no." the fox stated.

 _"Roman why is it talking?"_ Logan grumbled in surprise. 

"Don't ask me!" 

"YOU LITERALLY MADE IT." 

"Calm down fellas." Shanks smiled. "I understand you being confused however, I think there are more... Pressing issues at hand."

"Who's the Dragon King? Is it like the Dragon Witch?"

"..." Roman looked to the ground and shifted slightly. Thomas looked uncomfortable and slightly scared and Logan look a bit stressed.

"The Dragon King is like the Witch but worse. It is a threat at this time and we need to find a way to stop it." Shanks barked and turned to the 3 generals. "You 3 need to tell them about it or they will _never_ stand a chance. Whether you like it or not."

"All they need to know is death is inevitable if they approach the creature!" Logan growled. 

"I have one question, Roman." Remy spoke up. "What kind of name is the Dragon King?"

"It's what my mind thought of I guess when making this place."

"YOU CREATED IT ON PURPOSE?"

"No, I created it subconsciously. I didn't mean to summon it but I can't get rid of it... It's hard to explain."

" _Everything_ is hard to explain here!" Virgil complained.

"That's true...." Shanks grumbled.

"WE ARE NOT TALKING ABOUT THIS ANY FURTHER AND I WILL END YOUR TRAINING IF YOU EVER BRING IT UP. THIS PROBLEM IS FOR THE TOP RANK ARMY AND HUNTERS ALONE!" Logan snapped. Shanks growled a complaint.

"YOU ARE DAMNED IF YOU THINK THEY WON'T GET INVOLVED!" 

"I WILL NOT CONTINUE ON THE ORDERS OF A DAMN FOX!"

"YOU'LL REGRET NOT TELLING THEM! THEY WILL BE DEAD BY THE TIME YOU DECIDE TO TELL THEM!" Virgil looked down nervously.

 _Is there really a chance I'll die?_ Virgil started to shake slightly from the thought. He would never admit it out loud but he was terrified. Shanks seemed to notice his shift of mood from his statement and calmed his voice.

"Fine. We will continue this later at the palace."

"YOU'RE COMING WITH US?"

"Of course. I'm sticking with Virgil."

"Wait, what made you choose Virgil?" Thomas questioned. Shanks smiled.

"He has a good vibe about him. I like Virgil." _I sense something._

"Fine." Logan grumbled.

"Yay, now that that's settled, let's get to training!" Remy jumped up in excitement.

"Actually, that was your training."

"What?"

"You were able to get through the forest just fine."

"But you were guiding us."

"Remy, you and Virgil should've run into many many animals and monsters that wanted to hurt you or kill you. You lured them off."

"What? How?"

"Your protective attitude over Virgil somehow got you to surround yourselves in a sort of mist. You emitted no odors or sounds, hence making yourselves practically invisible to the animal's scents. You did well though we should work on harnessing that so you can summon that consciously." Remy's eyes widened and he pumped a fist in the air triumphantly.

"I'M MAGICAL BITCHES! THIS CALLS FOR STARBIES."

"Uhuh..." Logan muttered exasperated. "Let's head back. You won't have to worry about the mist think on the way back, we'll take care of it. Let's go. Thomas, report to the other ranks. I'll be seeing you very soon." Roman nodded his farewell and Thomas saluted as they left for the woods.

As they left, Thomas couldn't help but feel worried for the boy named Virgil and Remy, his little brother. 

Remy was too confident. He would most likely get himself killed by doing something either selfless or stupidly careless. 

Virgil however might be too afraid to defend himself. He looked terrified by the fact that he might die. Poor guy. 

Thomas huffed and returned to his tent, ready to take reports on spottings and their hunters' current location. 

He entered his tent and went through his newest mail, going over the reports and finally he found one from Fenix who kept track of the hunters' location. He ripped open the letter and read through it. His heart skipped a beat as he ran out of the tent, letter clutched in his hand. The words at the front of his mind all the way to the General of the Army, Roman's right hand.

_Report. Hunter bows and arrows, guns, knives, etc stained with blood. Found down river East of woods. 12 out of 29 hunters returned. 9 out of 12 wounded or mentally unstable. 3 out of 12 fine but shaken. All being treated at infirmary. Remains of other 17 hunters unknown. Search party set out at your command. - Report on Party 1H_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Party 1H means it is Hunter party #1


	13. A/N

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> COMING BACK BABY!

Hello guys! I'll be starting this story up again! It may take a bit because I have to go through the story and annotate important topics so that I can remember what to keep bringing up and what to keep in the characters personality and what I wanted to touch on in the story and everything like that. 

So basically I just need to annotate the story to remember where I was going with it ^^

To anyone who actually still has this in their bookmarks or was excited for this story at all or just plain had some hope for this series, thank you, lmao. Compared to my other series (also currently on Hiatus) this story wasn't doing the greatest but it most definitely was my favorite to write.

See you all soon! :D


	14. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kind of a review and a bit of foreshadow. Pretty important chapter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: talk about past abuse

Remy watched as Logan picked up his phone and brought it to his ear. 

"What is it Thomas?" Thomas' voice spoke on the other end and Logan's expression hardened. "Alright, we'll be right there." He hung up abruptly and looking to Roman, Remy and Virgil and Shanks, the fox.

"What's wrong? Is Thomas okay?" Remy questioned urgently as they all stopped in front of the castle. 

"Thomas is fine." Logan stated as he leaned into Roman's ear, whispering something. Roman's expression shifted from confusion to dread to stone. He addressed the younger soldiers. 

"Logan and I have something to tend to. Patton is in the dining hall as we speak. He'll get you dinner. We will be back soon." and with that, they both left without further explanation. Shanks stared suspiciously and Remy and Virgil gazed questioningly at their backs as they departed.

"What the hell happened?" Remy asked in concern for his family. 

"Remy, what is Thomas to you?" Virgil asked curiously. 

"Oh?" Remy turned to him confused. "You haven't already guessed? Gurl, you serious right now? He's my brother!" Virgil's eyes widened.

"Oh, s-sorry! I didn't realize!" 

"Obviously."

"Alright, that's enough." Shanks said softly from Virgil's shoulder. "Let's go inside and talk things over. I have a lot to tell you." 

"I would like to speak to Patton alone, if I could." Shanks requested. Virgil had told Patton that Roman and Logan would be back and he introduced him to Shanks. Patton was confused by the talking fox but thrilled that Virgil had found such a cute companion. 

"Uh, yeah! Sure!" Patton exclaimed." Virgil and Remy gave a look of confusion but shrugged and they left without a word of complaint.

Shanks sat on the table in front of Patton and smiled, or what Patton thought was him smiling. He squeaked at how cute this was and whispered behind his hands. 

"Your so adorable." 

"Ah, not adorable my friend. I am more described as... cool." he explained with a slightly tilted head.

"Oh! I get it! Hah!" 

"What's so funny? Never mind. I need to talk about Virgil. How long has he been here?" A look of confusion crossed Patton's face.

"He's... been here a few weeks. Why?" He jumped when Shanks let out a growl of disapproval. 

"How old?"

"18. When he joined, he was a senior in high school."

"Why is he doing this shit? This is going to get him killed!" 

"Hey! Watch the language! And what makes you think he's going to be killed? We aren't going to be putting him into any immediate danger like in the hunter corps." 

"Look... Patton. There's an aura around that kid. I don't like it. He's 18 Patton." Shanks sighed. "How did he get here? His past? What of it?" Patton swallowed. He didn't like telling people or random foxes about other peoples' pasts. He thought it was invading but the fox seemed to really care about Virgil despite just meeting him. Interesting.

Patton cleared his throat and leaned forward. "King Roman told us that he found Virgil locked in a locker of which happened because of a bunch of bullies. Virgil also confirmed that he was abused at home and has had tendencies to..." Patton rubbed his neck. "self-harm." 

"Why was he put into training at a time like this? With something like the Dragon King roaming around?" Patton shuddered. 

"We were planning on him just being a royal guard-" 

"Yes, I know that, Patton!" Shanks barked. "But..." he shook his head. "He can't be put into training. Something is going to happen. Something bad. Logan said there was a mist around them when going through the forest that blocked them from scent of any animal. Patton, I could smell Virgil. He smelled of death." 

Patton sighed and leaned back into his seat. "Look... I'm worried for the kid too. He's got so much anxiety but Remy seems to be helping a lot with that. Remy too. Granted, he's been here longer, I still worry for him. By far, he seems to be the hardest to get help for. Riddled with anxiety and depression." Patton combed a hand through his hair. "You're gonna need to talk to Roman about this. You won't have to do too much convincing on Logan's end but Roman seems very determined that Virgil should do this. I don't know why. I'm not huge on fighting or the royal guard or anything. I don't think we should have this whole set up, putting these people at such a great risk. 

"I believe that Roman should do something about the Dragon King on his own. Logan and I could help. But putting the citizens, the people we worked so hard to save, at risk? What happens when we lose them? What happens when lives are lost?" Tears pricked Patton's eyes. "I think about that everyday, Shanks. Innocents lives, wiped out. They do sign up for this at their own will but at what cost? They think they owe us for saving them but in reality, all we want from them is a willing to heal and to _live."_ Patton finished his speech with a half-hearted smile and glossy eyes. "But they still think they owe us their life. Such amazing people. So stubborn and so amazing. I very much dislike them for it. But I love them for it." 

Shanks nodded his understanding. "I'll have to talk to Roman about it then. Magic. Does he have any that you know of?" 

"Virgil? Not that I'm aware of. I can sense a bunch of magic in Remy. I've known him longer, though." Remy bowed his head and stared at the wood of the table.

"One more question. I sense another source of magic in this castle." Patton blinked in surprise.

"That must be Damian."

"Who's Damian?" 

"He just came this week. I don't think he's exactly _portrayed_ as the best kid but it's understandable. I'm sure he's a great kid somewhere in that weird snakey boiyo mindset and body!" Patton exclaimed with a cheery smile. Shanks nodded again with what a fox would call a smile. 

"He seems to have great potential. Lot's of magic." Patton clapped.

"Oh, that's great!" 

"Thanks for your time, Patton. I suppose you should start dinner. I can help if you'd like. My mother always caught a good chicken for me."

"Ummm, sorry we don't eat raw things." Shanks frowned. 

"Have you ever tried it?"

"People have and it didn't turn out well for them, I don't believe. We have to cook our food."

"I see..." 

"But you can certainly help with dinner, no complaints here. Your so... cool." Patton smiled and winked at Shanks. Shanks tilted his head as they walked out of the room. 

_People are weird._ Shanks thought.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The story is now also on my Wattpad. A bit of shameless self promo: https://www.wattpad.com/user/TenyaIidam   
> :)


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